diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6215c0a5..1c93e5ec 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
     "test": "npm run test:app",
     "test:all": "npm run test:typecheck && npm run test:code && npm run test:other && npm run test:app -- --watchAll=false",
     "test:update": "npm run test:app -- --updateSnapshot --watchAll=false",
-    "test:app": "react-scripts test --env=jsdom --passWithNoTests",
+    "test:app": "react-scripts test --env=jsdom-fourteen --passWithNoTests",
     "test:code": "eslint --max-warnings=0 --ignore-path .gitignore --ext .js,.ts,.tsx .",
     "test:debug": "react-scripts --inspect-brk test --runInBand --no-cache",
     "test:other": "npm run prettier -- --list-different",
diff --git a/src/components/InitializeApp.tsx b/src/components/InitializeApp.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..091f726d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/InitializeApp.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import React from "react";
+
+import { LoadingMessage } from "./LoadingMessage";
+import { setLanguageFirstTime } from "../i18n";
+
+export class InitializeApp extends React.Component<
+  any,
+  { isLoading: boolean }
+> {
+  public state: { isLoading: boolean } = {
+    isLoading: true,
+  };
+
+  async componentDidMount() {
+    await setLanguageFirstTime();
+    this.setState({
+      isLoading: false,
+    });
+  }
+
+  public render() {
+    return this.state.isLoading ? <LoadingMessage /> : this.props.children;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/components/LayerUI.tsx b/src/components/LayerUI.tsx
index 57e0fc34..9f52b919 100644
--- a/src/components/LayerUI.tsx
+++ b/src/components/LayerUI.tsx
@@ -255,8 +255,8 @@ const LayerUI = ({
         }`}
       >
         <LanguageList
-          onChange={(lng) => {
-            setLanguage(lng);
+          onChange={async (lng) => {
+            await setLanguage(lng);
             setAppState({});
           }}
           languages={languages}
diff --git a/src/components/MobileMenu.tsx b/src/components/MobileMenu.tsx
index dbd7f672..d2f5347a 100644
--- a/src/components/MobileMenu.tsx
+++ b/src/components/MobileMenu.tsx
@@ -100,8 +100,8 @@ export const MobileMenu = ({
                 <fieldset>
                   <legend>{t("labels.language")}</legend>
                   <LanguageList
-                    onChange={(lng) => {
-                      setLanguage(lng);
+                    onChange={async (lng) => {
+                      await setLanguage(lng);
                       setAppState({});
                     }}
                   />
diff --git a/src/i18n.ts b/src/i18n.ts
index 9d39d165..57e3c42d 100644
--- a/src/i18n.ts
+++ b/src/i18n.ts
@@ -1,55 +1,58 @@
 import LanguageDetector from "i18next-browser-languagedetector";
 
 export const languages = [
-  { lng: "en", label: "English", data: require("./locales/en.json") },
-  { lng: "bg-BG", label: "Български", data: require("./locales/bg-BG.json") },
-  { lng: "nb-No", label: "Bokmål", data: require("./locales/nb-NO.json") },
-  { lng: "de-DE", label: "Deutsch", data: require("./locales/de-DE.json") },
-  { lng: "es-ES", label: "Español", data: require("./locales/es-ES.json") },
-  { lng: "ca-ES", label: "Catalan", data: require("./locales/ca-ES.json") },
-  { lng: "el-GR", label: "Ελληνικά", data: require("./locales/el-GR.json") },
-  { lng: "fr-FR", label: "Français", data: require("./locales/fr-FR.json") },
-  {
-    lng: "id-ID",
-    label: "Bahasa Indonesia",
-    data: require("./locales/id-ID.json"),
-  },
-  { lng: "it-IT", label: "Italiano", data: require("./locales/it-IT.json") },
-  { lng: "hu-HU", label: "Magyar", data: require("./locales/hu-HU.json") },
-  { lng: "nl-NL", label: "Nederlands", data: require("./locales/nl-NL.json") },
-  { lng: "pl-PL", label: "Polski", data: require("./locales/pl-PL.json") },
-  { lng: "pt-PT", label: "Português", data: require("./locales/pt-PT.json") },
-  { lng: "ru-RU", label: "Русский", data: require("./locales/ru-RU.json") },
-  { lng: "uk-UA", label: "Українська", data: require("./locales/uk-UA.json") },
-  { lng: "fi-FI", label: "Suomi", data: require("./locales/fi-FI.json") },
-  { lng: "tr-TR", label: "Türkçe", data: require("./locales/tr-TR.json") },
-  { lng: "ja-JP", label: "日本語", data: require("./locales/ja-JP.json") },
-  { lng: "ko-KR", label: "한국어", data: require("./locales/ko-KR.json") },
-  { lng: "zh-TW", label: "繁體中文", data: require("./locales/zh-TW.json") },
-  { lng: "zh-CN", label: "简体中文", data: require("./locales/zh-CN.json") },
-  {
-    lng: "ar-SA",
-    label: "العربية",
-    data: require("./locales/ar-SA.json"),
-    rtl: true,
-  },
-  {
-    lng: "he-IL",
-    label: "עברית",
-    data: require("./locales/he-IL.json"),
-    rtl: true,
-  },
+  { lng: "en", label: "English", data: "en.json" },
+  { lng: "bg-BG", label: "Български", data: "bg-BG.json" },
+  { lng: "de-DE", label: "Deutsch", data: "de-DE.json" },
+  { lng: "nb-No", label: "Bokmål", data: "nb-NO.json" },
+  { lng: "es-ES", label: "Español", data: "es-ES.json" },
+  { lng: "ca-ES", label: "Catalan", data: "ca-ES.json" },
+  { lng: "el-GR", label: "Ελληνικά", data: "el-GR.json" },
+  { lng: "fr-FR", label: "Français", data: "fr-FR.json" },
+  { lng: "id-ID", label: "Bahasa Indonesia", data: "id-ID.json" },
+  { lng: "it-IT", label: "Italiano", data: "it-IT.json" },
+  { lng: "hu-HU", label: "Magyar", data: "hu-HU.json" },
+  { lng: "nl-NL", label: "Nederlands", data: "nl-NL.json" },
+  { lng: "pl-PL", label: "Polski", data: "pl-PL.json" },
+  { lng: "pt-PT", label: "Português", data: "pt-PT.json" },
+  { lng: "ru-RU", label: "Русский", data: "ru-RU.json" },
+  { lng: "uk-UA", label: "Українська", data: "uk-UA.json" },
+  { lng: "fi-FI", label: "Suomi", data: "fi-FI.json" },
+  { lng: "tr-TR", label: "Türkçe", data: "tr-TR.json" },
+  { lng: "ja-JP", label: "日本語", data: "ja-JP.json" },
+  { lng: "ko-KR", label: "한국어", data: "ko-KR.json" },
+  { lng: "zh-TW", label: "繁體中文", data: "zh-TW.json" },
+  { lng: "zh-CN", label: "简体中文", data: "zh-CN.json" },
+  { lng: "ar-SA", label: "العربية", data: "ar-SA.json", rtl: true },
+  { lng: "he-IL", label: "עברית", data: "he-IL.json", rtl: true },
 ];
 
 let currentLanguage = languages[0];
+let currentLanguageData = {};
 const fallbackLanguage = languages[0];
+const fallbackLanguageData = require("./locales/en.json");
 
-export const setLanguage = (newLng: string | undefined) => {
+export const setLanguage = async (newLng: string | undefined) => {
   currentLanguage =
     languages.find((language) => language.lng === newLng) || fallbackLanguage;
 
   document.documentElement.dir = currentLanguage.rtl ? "rtl" : "ltr";
 
+  currentLanguageData = await import(`./locales/${currentLanguage.data}`);
+
+  languageDetector.cacheUserLanguage(currentLanguage.lng);
+};
+
+export const setLanguageFirstTime = async () => {
+  const newLng: string | undefined = languageDetector.detect();
+
+  currentLanguage =
+    languages.find((language) => language.lng === newLng) || fallbackLanguage;
+
+  document.documentElement.dir = currentLanguage.rtl ? "rtl" : "ltr";
+
+  currentLanguageData = await import(`./locales/${currentLanguage.data}`);
+
   languageDetector.cacheUserLanguage(currentLanguage.lng);
 };
 
@@ -72,8 +75,8 @@ const findPartsForData = (data: any, parts: string[]) => {
 export const t = (path: string, replacement?: { [key: string]: string }) => {
   const parts = path.split(".");
   let translation =
-    findPartsForData(currentLanguage.data, parts) ||
-    findPartsForData(fallbackLanguage.data, parts);
+    findPartsForData(currentLanguageData, parts) ||
+    findPartsForData(fallbackLanguageData, parts);
   if (translation === undefined) {
     throw new Error(`Can't find translation for ${path}`);
   }
@@ -94,5 +97,3 @@ languageDetector.init({
   },
   checkWhitelist: false,
 });
-
-setLanguage(languageDetector.detect());
diff --git a/src/index.tsx b/src/index.tsx
index 38a7b6fb..f78ba77c 100644
--- a/src/index.tsx
+++ b/src/index.tsx
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import * as SentryIntegrations from "@sentry/integrations";
 
 import { EVENT } from "./constants";
 import { TopErrorBoundary } from "./components/TopErrorBoundary";
+import { InitializeApp } from "./components/InitializeApp";
 import { IsMobileProvider } from "./is-mobile";
 import App from "./components/App";
 import { register as registerServiceWorker } from "./serviceWorker";
@@ -67,7 +68,9 @@ const rootElement = document.getElementById("root");
 ReactDOM.render(
   <TopErrorBoundary>
     <IsMobileProvider>
-      <App />
+      <InitializeApp>
+        <App />
+      </InitializeApp>
     </IsMobileProvider>
   </TopErrorBoundary>,
   rootElement,
diff --git a/src/tests/regressionTests.test.tsx b/src/tests/regressionTests.test.tsx
index 3209000d..9c07532d 100644
--- a/src/tests/regressionTests.test.tsx
+++ b/src/tests/regressionTests.test.tsx
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@ import { reseed } from "../random";
 import React from "react";
 import ReactDOM from "react-dom";
 import * as Renderer from "../renderer/renderScene";
-import { render, screen, fireEvent } from "./test-utils";
+import { waitFor, render, screen, fireEvent } from "./test-utils";
 import App from "../components/App";
+import { setLanguage } from "../i18n";
 import { ToolName } from "./queries/toolQueries";
 import { KEYS, Key } from "../keys";
 import { setDateTimeForTests } from "../utils";
@@ -227,7 +228,7 @@ const checkpoint = (name: string) => {
   );
 };
 
-beforeEach(() => {
+beforeEach(async () => {
   // Unmount ReactDOM from root
   ReactDOM.unmountComponentAtNode(document.getElementById("root")!);
 
@@ -242,6 +243,7 @@ beforeEach(() => {
   finger2.reset();
   altKey = ctrlKey = shiftKey = false;
 
+  await setLanguage("en.json");
   const renderResult = render(<App />);
 
   getByToolName = renderResult.getByToolName;
@@ -655,7 +657,7 @@ describe("regression tests", () => {
     expect(h.state.zoom).toBe(1);
   });
 
-  it("rerenders UI on language change", () => {
+  it("rerenders UI on language change", async () => {
     // select rectangle tool to show properties menu
     clickTool("rectangle");
     // english lang should display `hachure` label
@@ -664,11 +666,13 @@ describe("regression tests", () => {
       target: { value: "de-DE" },
     });
     // switching to german, `hachure` label should no longer exist
-    expect(screen.queryByText(/hachure/i)).toBeNull();
+    await waitFor(() => expect(screen.queryByText(/hachure/i)).toBeNull());
     // reset language
     fireEvent.change(document.querySelector(".dropdown-select__language")!, {
       target: { value: "en" },
     });
+    // switching back to English
+    await waitFor(() => expect(screen.queryByText(/hachure/i)).not.toBeNull());
   });
 
   it("make a group and duplicate it", () => {