diff --git a/.linguirc b/.linguirc
index 3a6a7c4b82f..a64726b556b 100644
--- a/.linguirc
+++ b/.linguirc
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 {
   "locales": [
-    "en",
-    "fr",
-    "es",
+    "en-US",
+    "fr-FR",
+    "es-ES",
     "pseudo-LOCALE"
   ],
   "catalogs": [
@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@
     }
   ],
   "fallbackLocales": {
-    "pseudo-LOCALE": "en",
-    "default": "en"
+    "pseudo-LOCALE": "en-US",
+    "default": "en-US"
   },
   "pseudoLocale": "pseudo-LOCALE",
-  "sourceLocale": "en",
+  "sourceLocale": "en-US",
   "format": "po",
   "formatOptions": {
     "lineNumbers": false
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 1988b499f7a..a9da25aa0c4 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
     "lint": "yarn run lint:ts && yarn run lint:sass",
     "lint:ts": "eslint . --ext .js,.tsx,.ts --cache",
     "lint:sass": "yarn stylelint '{public/sass,packages}/**/*.scss' --cache",
-    "test:ci": "mkdir -p reports/junit && JEST_JUNIT_OUTPUT_DIR=reports/junit jest --ci --reporters=default --reporters=jest-junit -w ${TEST_MAX_WORKERS:-100%}",
+    "test:ci": "yarn i18n:compile && mkdir -p reports/junit && JEST_JUNIT_OUTPUT_DIR=reports/junit jest --ci --reporters=default --reporters=jest-junit -w ${TEST_MAX_WORKERS:-100%}",
     "lint:fix": "yarn lint:ts --fix",
     "packages:build": "lerna run clean && lerna run build --ignore @grafana-plugins/input-datasource",
     "packages:docsExtract": "rm -rf ./reports/docs && lerna run docsExtract",
diff --git a/public/app/core/components/SharedPreferences/SharedPreferences.test.tsx b/public/app/core/components/SharedPreferences/SharedPreferences.test.tsx
index 868df02d1d6..29351822ab1 100644
--- a/public/app/core/components/SharedPreferences/SharedPreferences.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/core/components/SharedPreferences/SharedPreferences.test.tsx
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ describe('SharedPreferences', () => {
       queryHistory: {
         homeTab: '',
       },
-      locale: 'fr',
+      locale: 'fr-FR',
     });
   });
 
diff --git a/public/app/core/components/SharedPreferences/SharedPreferences.tsx b/public/app/core/components/SharedPreferences/SharedPreferences.tsx
index 6117947e2ba..2fcd57379f6 100644
--- a/public/app/core/components/SharedPreferences/SharedPreferences.tsx
+++ b/public/app/core/components/SharedPreferences/SharedPreferences.tsx
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
   WeekStartPicker,
   FeatureBadge,
 } from '@grafana/ui';
+import { ENGLISH_US, FRENCH_FRANCE, SPANISH_SPAIN } from 'app/core/internationalization/constants';
 import { PreferencesService } from 'app/core/services/PreferencesService';
 import { backendSrv } from 'app/core/services/backend_srv';
 import { DashboardSearchItem, DashboardSearchItemType } from 'app/features/search/types';
@@ -50,21 +51,21 @@ const languages: Array<SelectableValue<string>> = [
     }),
   },
   {
-    value: 'en',
+    value: ENGLISH_US,
     label: t({
       id: 'common.locale.en',
       message: 'English',
     }),
   },
   {
-    value: 'es',
+    value: SPANISH_SPAIN,
     label: t({
       id: 'common.locale.es',
       message: 'Spanish',
     }),
   },
   {
-    value: 'fr',
+    value: FRENCH_FRANCE,
     label: t({
       id: 'common.locale.fr',
       message: 'French',
diff --git a/public/app/core/internationalization/constants.ts b/public/app/core/internationalization/constants.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7d5dc045c55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/app/core/internationalization/constants.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+type LocaleIdentifier = `${string}-${string}`;
+
+export const ENGLISH_US: LocaleIdentifier = 'en-US';
+export const FRENCH_FRANCE: LocaleIdentifier = 'fr-FR';
+export const SPANISH_SPAIN: LocaleIdentifier = 'es-ES';
+
+export const DEFAULT_LOCALE: LocaleIdentifier = ENGLISH_US;
+
+export const VALID_LOCALES: LocaleIdentifier[] = [ENGLISH_US, FRENCH_FRANCE, SPANISH_SPAIN];
diff --git a/public/app/core/internationalization/index.tsx b/public/app/core/internationalization/index.tsx
index 4004759b71a..bf1c889f91a 100644
--- a/public/app/core/internationalization/index.tsx
+++ b/public/app/core/internationalization/index.tsx
@@ -4,22 +4,28 @@ import React, { useEffect } from 'react';
 
 import config from 'app/core/config';
 
-import { messages } from '../../../locales/en/messages';
+import { messages as fallbackMessages } from '../../../locales/en-US/messages';
+
+import { DEFAULT_LOCALE, FRENCH_FRANCE, SPANISH_SPAIN, VALID_LOCALES } from './constants';
 
 let i18nInstance: I18n;
 
-export async function getI18n(locale = 'en') {
+export async function getI18n(localInput = DEFAULT_LOCALE) {
   if (i18nInstance) {
     return i18nInstance;
   }
+
+  const validatedLocale = VALID_LOCALES.includes(localInput) ? localInput : DEFAULT_LOCALE;
+
   // Dynamically load the messages for the user's locale
   const imp =
     config.featureToggles.internationalization &&
-    (await import(`../../../locales/${locale}/messages`).catch((err) => {
+    (await import(`../../../locales/${validatedLocale}/messages`).catch((err) => {
       // TODO: Properly return an error if we can't find the messages for a locale
       return err;
     }));
-  i18n.load(locale, imp?.messages || messages);
+
+  i18n.load(validatedLocale, imp?.messages || fallbackMessages);
 
   // Browser support for Intl.PluralRules is good and covers what we support in .browserlistrc,
   // but because this could potentially be in a the critical path of loading the frontend lets
@@ -27,16 +33,16 @@ export async function getI18n(locale = 'en') {
   // If this isnt loaded, Lingui will log a warning and plurals will not be translated correctly.
   const supportsPluralRules = 'Intl' in window && 'PluralRules' in Intl;
   if (supportsPluralRules) {
-    const pluralsOrdinal = new Intl.PluralRules(locale, { type: 'ordinal' });
-    const pluralsCardinal = new Intl.PluralRules(locale, { type: 'cardinal' });
-    i18n.loadLocaleData(locale, {
+    const pluralsOrdinal = new Intl.PluralRules(validatedLocale, { type: 'ordinal' });
+    const pluralsCardinal = new Intl.PluralRules(validatedLocale, { type: 'cardinal' });
+    i18n.loadLocaleData(validatedLocale, {
       plurals(count: number, ordinal: boolean) {
         return (ordinal ? pluralsOrdinal : pluralsCardinal).select(count);
       },
     });
   }
 
-  i18n.activate(locale);
+  i18n.activate(validatedLocale);
   i18nInstance = i18n;
 
   return i18nInstance;
@@ -52,13 +58,13 @@ export function I18nProvider({ children }: I18nProviderProps) {
       // TODO: Use locale preference instead of weekStart
       switch (config.bootData.user.weekStart) {
         case 'saturday':
-          loc = 'es';
+          loc = SPANISH_SPAIN;
           break;
         case 'sunday':
-          loc = 'fr';
+          loc = FRENCH_FRANCE;
           break;
         default:
-          loc = 'en';
+          loc = DEFAULT_LOCALE;
           break;
       }
     }
diff --git a/public/locales/en/messages.po b/public/locales/en-US/messages.po
similarity index 100%
rename from public/locales/en/messages.po
rename to public/locales/en-US/messages.po
diff --git a/public/locales/es/messages.po b/public/locales/es-ES/messages.po
similarity index 100%
rename from public/locales/es/messages.po
rename to public/locales/es-ES/messages.po
diff --git a/public/locales/fr/messages.po b/public/locales/fr-FR/messages.po
similarity index 100%
rename from public/locales/fr/messages.po
rename to public/locales/fr-FR/messages.po