diff --git a/packages/localize/src/tools/src/extract/source_files/es5_extract_plugin.ts b/packages/localize/src/tools/src/extract/source_files/es5_extract_plugin.ts
index 732a102636..27ae97333a 100644
--- a/packages/localize/src/tools/src/extract/source_files/es5_extract_plugin.ts
+++ b/packages/localize/src/tools/src/extract/source_files/es5_extract_plugin.ts
@@ -10,24 +10,35 @@ import {ɵParsedMessage, ɵparseMessage} from '@angular/localize';
 import {NodePath, PluginObj} from '@babel/core';
 import {CallExpression} from '@babel/types';
 
-import {getLocation, isGlobalIdentifier, isNamedIdentifier, unwrapMessagePartsFromLocalizeCall, unwrapSubstitutionsFromLocalizeCall} from '../../source_file_utils';
+import {buildCodeFrameError, getLocation, isBabelParseError, isGlobalIdentifier, isNamedIdentifier, unwrapMessagePartsFromLocalizeCall, unwrapSubstitutionsFromLocalizeCall} from '../../source_file_utils';
 
 export function makeEs5ExtractPlugin(
     fs: PathManipulation, messages: ɵParsedMessage[], localizeName = '$localize'): PluginObj {
   return {
     visitor: {
       CallExpression(callPath: NodePath<CallExpression>) {
-        const calleePath = callPath.get('callee');
-        if (isNamedIdentifier(calleePath, localizeName) && isGlobalIdentifier(calleePath)) {
-          const [messageParts, messagePartLocations] =
-              unwrapMessagePartsFromLocalizeCall(callPath, fs);
-          const [expressions, expressionLocations] =
-              unwrapSubstitutionsFromLocalizeCall(callPath, fs);
-          const [messagePartsArg, expressionsArg] = callPath.get('arguments');
-          const location = getLocation(fs, messagePartsArg, expressionsArg);
-          const message = ɵparseMessage(
-              messageParts, expressions, location, messagePartLocations, expressionLocations);
-          messages.push(message);
+        try {
+          const calleePath = callPath.get('callee');
+          if (isNamedIdentifier(calleePath, localizeName) && isGlobalIdentifier(calleePath)) {
+            const [messageParts, messagePartLocations] =
+                unwrapMessagePartsFromLocalizeCall(callPath, fs);
+            const [expressions, expressionLocations] =
+                unwrapSubstitutionsFromLocalizeCall(callPath, fs);
+            const [messagePartsArg, expressionsArg] = callPath.get('arguments');
+            const location = getLocation(fs, messagePartsArg, expressionsArg);
+            const message = ɵparseMessage(
+                messageParts, expressions, location, messagePartLocations, expressionLocations);
+            messages.push(message);
+          }
+        } catch (e) {
+          if (isBabelParseError(e)) {
+            // If we get a BabelParseError here then something went wrong with Babel itself
+            // since there must be something wrong with the structure of the AST generated
+            // by Babel parsing a TaggedTemplateExpression.
+            throw buildCodeFrameError(callPath, e);
+          } else {
+            throw e;
+          }
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/packages/localize/src/tools/test/extract/source_files/es5_extract_plugin_spec.ts b/packages/localize/src/tools/test/extract/source_files/es5_extract_plugin_spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..db587f0413
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/localize/src/tools/test/extract/source_files/es5_extract_plugin_spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright Google LLC All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
+ */
+import {getFileSystem} from '@angular/compiler-cli/src/ngtsc/file_system';
+import {runInEachFileSystem} from '@angular/compiler-cli/src/ngtsc/file_system/testing';
+import {ɵParsedMessage} from '@angular/localize/private';
+import {transformSync} from '@babel/core';
+
+import {makeEs5ExtractPlugin} from '../../../src/extract/source_files/es5_extract_plugin';
+
+runInEachFileSystem(() => {
+  describe('makeEs5ExtractPlugin()', () => {
+    it('should error with code-frame information if the first argument to `$localize` is not an array',
+       () => {
+         const input = '$localize(null, [])';
+         expect(() => transformCode(input))
+             .toThrowError(
+                 'Cannot create property \'message\' on string \'/app/dist/test.js: Unexpected messageParts for `$localize` (expected an array of strings).\n' +
+                 '> 1 | $localize(null, [])\n' +
+                 '    |           ^^^^\'');
+       });
+
+    function transformCode(input: string): ɵParsedMessage[] {
+      const messages: ɵParsedMessage[] = [];
+      transformSync(input, {
+        plugins: [makeEs5ExtractPlugin(getFileSystem(), messages)],
+        filename: '/app/dist/test.js'
+      })!.code!;
+      return messages;
+    }
+  });
+});