diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 58a014ec18..ab4446374e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ $(SUBDIRS): .FORCE
 # otherwise. This symlinks make sure that phase 2 can easily use the right file
 # for each language, also as a prerequisite in the Makefile.
 
-LANGUAGES := $(shell . build/languages.sh && echo `languages | cut -d\  -f1`)
+LANGUAGES := $(shell ls -xw0 global/languages)
 
 TEXTS_LINKS := $(foreach lang,$(LANGUAGES),tools/.texts-$(lang).xml)
 
diff --git a/build/languages.sh b/build/languages.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index f8c0f9ecac..0000000000
--- a/build/languages.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-# lazy-ass include guard
-inc_languages=true
-
-languages(){
-cat <<EOL
-ar &#1575;&#1604;&#1593;&#1585;&#1576;&#1610;&#1617;&#1577;
-bg Български
-bs Bosanski
-ca Català
-cs Česky
-da Dansk
-de Deutsch
-el Ελληνικά
-en English
-es Español
-et Eesti
-fi Suomi
-fr Français
-hr Hrvatski
-hu Magyar
-it Italiano
-mk Mакедонски
-nb Norsk (bokmål)
-nl Nederlands
-nn Norsk (nynorsk)
-pl Polski
-pt Português
-ro Română
-ru Русский
-sk Slovenčina
-sl Slovenščina
-sq Shqip
-sr Српски
-sv Svenska
-tr Türkçe
-uk Українська
-zh 漢語
-EOL
-}
diff --git a/build/makerules.sh b/build/makerules.sh
index aa2dcd25fa..87acdc7289 100755
--- a/build/makerules.sh
+++ b/build/makerules.sh
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 inc_makerules=true
-[ -z "$inc_languages" ] && . "$basedir/build/languages.sh"
 
 tree_maker(){
   # walk through file tree and issue Make rules according to file type
   input="$(realpath "$1")"
   output="$(realpath "$2")"
-  languages=$(echo $(languages | cut -d\  -f1))
+  languages="$(ls -xw0 "${basedir}/global/languages")"
 
   cat <<EOF
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/build/scaffold.sh b/build/scaffold.sh
index 6d86e79957..a283c78518 100755
--- a/build/scaffold.sh
+++ b/build/scaffold.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 inc_scaffold=true
-[ -z "$inc_languages" ] && . "$basedir/build/languages.sh"
 
 get_version(){
   version=$(xsltproc $basedir/build/xslt/get_version.xsl $1)
@@ -33,14 +32,11 @@ list_langs(){
   # the shortname (i.e. file path with file ending omitted)
   # output is readily formatted for inclusion
   # in xml stream
-  shortname="$1"
-
-  langfilter=$(
-    echo "$shortname".[a-z][a-z].xhtml \
-    | sed -r 's;[^ ]+.([a-z]{2}).xhtml;\1;g;s; ;|;g'
-  )
-  languages | egrep "^($langfilter) " \
-  | sed -r 's:^([a-z]{2}) (.+)$:<tr id="\1">\2</tr>:g'
+  for file in "${1}".[a-z][a-z].xhtml; do
+    language="${file: -8:2}"
+    text="$(echo -n $(cat "${basedir}/global/languages/${language}"))"
+    echo "<tr id=\"${language}\">${text}</tr>"
+  done
 }
 
 list_sources(){
diff --git a/global/languages/ar b/global/languages/ar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d3f795438f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/ar
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+&#1575;&#1604;&#1593;&#1585;&#1576;&#1610;&#1617;&#1577;
diff --git a/global/languages/bg b/global/languages/bg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1e179169b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/bg
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Български
diff --git a/global/languages/bs b/global/languages/bs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6db32c287a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/bs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Bosanski
diff --git a/global/languages/ca b/global/languages/ca
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f165a42f64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/ca
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Català
diff --git a/global/languages/cs b/global/languages/cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9ccdc1b94d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/cs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Česky
diff --git a/global/languages/da b/global/languages/da
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..64e98c9de4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/da
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Dansk
diff --git a/global/languages/de b/global/languages/de
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..12b1cb7320
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/de
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Deutsch
diff --git a/global/languages/el b/global/languages/el
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..44b139a924
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/el
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Ελληνικά
diff --git a/global/languages/en b/global/languages/en
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb54c64e2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/en
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+English
diff --git a/global/languages/es b/global/languages/es
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..820e763c43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/es
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Español
diff --git a/global/languages/et b/global/languages/et
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..167d3f6999
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/et
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Eesti
diff --git a/global/languages/fi b/global/languages/fi
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0c47ce42b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/fi
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Suomi
diff --git a/global/languages/fr b/global/languages/fr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8985d03ab7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/fr
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Français
diff --git a/global/languages/hr b/global/languages/hr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cfd618d116
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/hr
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Hrvatski
diff --git a/global/languages/hu b/global/languages/hu
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c9a549fb32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/hu
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Magyar
diff --git a/global/languages/it b/global/languages/it
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dfe35404b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/it
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Italiano
diff --git a/global/languages/mk b/global/languages/mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c6d0554e9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/mk
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Mакедонски
diff --git a/global/languages/nb b/global/languages/nb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2ffca8f8e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/nb
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Norsk (bokmål)
diff --git a/global/languages/nl b/global/languages/nl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9d762e84b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/nl
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Nederlands
diff --git a/global/languages/nn b/global/languages/nn
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b8bfc3268f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/nn
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Norsk (nynorsk)
diff --git a/global/languages/pl b/global/languages/pl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3742546e89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/pl
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Polski
diff --git a/global/languages/pt b/global/languages/pt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7dc0ba9344
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/pt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Português
diff --git a/global/languages/ro b/global/languages/ro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ecaad414ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/ro
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Română
diff --git a/global/languages/ru b/global/languages/ru
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d5a2915145
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/ru
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Русский
diff --git a/global/languages/sk b/global/languages/sk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1cdf2ea25e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/sk
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Slovenčina
diff --git a/global/languages/sl b/global/languages/sl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5300385f28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/sl
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Slovenščina
diff --git a/global/languages/sq b/global/languages/sq
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c8500bc9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/sq
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Shqip
diff --git a/global/languages/sr b/global/languages/sr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..98be639095
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/sr
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Српски
diff --git a/global/languages/sv b/global/languages/sv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ac049af414
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/sv
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Svenska
diff --git a/global/languages/tr b/global/languages/tr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b51132e2ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/tr
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Türkçe
diff --git a/global/languages/uk b/global/languages/uk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b36b46f6e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/uk
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Українська
diff --git a/global/languages/zh b/global/languages/zh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f0bc128bcc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global/languages/zh
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+漢語