diff --git a/setup/translations.py b/setup/translations.py
index 412ad08222..fa90478c77 100644
--- a/setup/translations.py
+++ b/setup/translations.py
@@ -454,6 +454,7 @@ class Translations(POT):  # {{{
     def compile_website_translations(self):
         from calibre.utils.zipfile import ZipFile, ZipInfo, ZIP_STORED
         from calibre.ptempfile import TemporaryDirectory
+        from calibre.utils.localization import get_iso639_translator, get_language, get_iso_language
         self.info('Compiling website translations...')
         srcbase = self.j(self.d(self.SRC), 'translations', 'website')
         fmap = {}
@@ -471,6 +472,9 @@ class Translations(POT):  # {{{
             for f in os.listdir(srcbase):
                 if f.endswith('.po'):
                     l = f.partition('.')[0]
+                    pf = l.split('_')[0]
+                    if pf in {'en'}:
+                        continue
                     d = os.path.join(tdir, l + '.mo')
                     f = os.path.join(srcbase, f)
                     fmap[f] = l
@@ -485,6 +489,19 @@ class Translations(POT):  # {{{
                     zi.compress_type = ZIP_STORED
                     zf.writestr(zi, raw)
                     done.append(locale)
+            dl = done + ['en']
+
+            lang_names = {}
+            for l in dl:
+                if l == 'en':
+                    t = get_language
+                else:
+                    t = get_iso639_translator(l).ugettext
+                    t = partial(get_iso_language, t)
+                lang_names[l] = {x: t(x) for x in dl}
+            zi = ZipInfo('lang-names.json')
+            zi.compress_type = ZIP_STORED
+            zf.writestr(zi, json.dumps(lang_names, ensure_ascii=False).encode('utf-8'))
         dest = self.j(self.d(self.stats), 'website-languages.txt')
         with open(dest, 'wb') as f:
             f.write(' '.join(sorted(done)))
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/localization.py b/src/calibre/utils/localization.py
index 4acb85ea84..081cb9b5f0 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/localization.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/localization.py
@@ -60,6 +60,18 @@ def get_system_locale():
     return lang
 
 
+def sanitize_lang(lang):
+    if lang:
+        match = re.match('[a-z]{2,3}(_[A-Z]{2}){0,1}', lang)
+        if match:
+            lang = match.group()
+    if lang == 'zh':
+        lang = 'zh_CN'
+    if not lang:
+        lang = 'en'
+    return lang
+
+
 def get_lang():
     'Try to figure out what language to display the interface in'
     from calibre.utils.config_base import prefs
@@ -73,15 +85,7 @@ def get_lang():
         import traceback
         traceback.print_exc()
         lang = None
-    if lang:
-        match = re.match('[a-z]{2,3}(_[A-Z]{2}){0,1}', lang)
-        if match:
-            lang = match.group()
-    if lang == 'zh':
-        lang = 'zh_CN'
-    if not lang:
-        lang = 'en'
-    return lang
+    return sanitize_lang(lang)
 
 
 def is_rtl():
@@ -118,13 +122,19 @@ def get_all_translators():
                 yield lang, GNUTranslations(buf)
 
 
-def get_single_translator(mpath):
+def get_single_translator(mpath, which='messages'):
     from zipfile import ZipFile
     with ZipFile(P('localization/locales.zip', allow_user_override=False), 'r') as zf:
-        buf = cStringIO.StringIO(zf.read(mpath + '/messages.mo'))
+        buf = cStringIO.StringIO(zf.read(mpath + '/%s.mo' % which))
         return GNUTranslations(buf)
 
 
+def get_iso639_translator(lang):
+    lang = sanitize_lang(lang)
+    mpath = get_lc_messages_path(lang) if lang else None
+    return get_single_translator(mpath, 'iso639') if mpath else None
+
+
 def get_translator(bcp_47_code):
     parts = bcp_47_code.replace('-', '_').split('_')[:2]
     parts[0] = lang_as_iso639_1(parts[0].lower()) or 'en'
@@ -334,13 +344,7 @@ def _load_iso639():
     return _iso639
 
 
-def get_language(lang):
-    translate = _
-    lang = _lcase_map.get(lang, lang)
-    if lang in _extra_lang_codes:
-        # The translator was not active when _extra_lang_codes was defined, so
-        # re-translate
-        return translate(_extra_lang_codes[lang])
+def get_iso_language(lang_trans, lang):
     iso639 = _load_iso639()
     ans = lang
     lang = lang.split('_')[0].lower()
@@ -351,10 +355,17 @@ def get_language(lang):
             ans = iso639['by_3b'][lang]
         else:
             ans = iso639['by_3t'].get(lang, ans)
-    try:
-        return _lang_trans.ugettext(ans)
-    except AttributeError:
-        return translate(ans)
+    return lang_trans(ans)
+
+
+def get_language(lang):
+    translate = _
+    lang = _lcase_map.get(lang, lang)
+    if lang in _extra_lang_codes:
+        # The translator was not active when _extra_lang_codes was defined, so
+        # re-translate
+        return translate(_extra_lang_codes[lang])
+    return get_iso_language(getattr(_lang_trans, 'ugettext', translate), lang)
 
 
 def calibre_langcode_to_name(lc, localize=True):