diff --git a/apps/language.c b/apps/language.c
index 2b9b6ff30b..847100e7da 100644
--- a/apps/language.c
+++ b/apps/language.c
@@ -25,9 +25,21 @@ extern int printf(const char *format, ...);
 #include "language.h"
 #include "lang.h"
 #include "debug.h"
+#include "string.h"
 
 static unsigned char language_buffer[MAX_LANGUAGE_SIZE];
 
+void lang_init(void)
+{
+    int i;
+    unsigned char *ptr = (unsigned char *) language_builtin;
+    
+    for (i = 0; i < LANG_LAST_INDEX_IN_ARRAY; i++) {
+        language_strings[i] = ptr;
+        ptr += strlen(ptr) + 1; /* advance pointer to next string */
+    }
+}
+
 int lang_load(const char *filename)
 {
     int filesize;
@@ -39,6 +51,7 @@ int lang_load(const char *filename)
     if(filesize != MAX_LANGUAGE_SIZE) {
         if((language_buffer[0] == LANGUAGE_COOKIE) &&
            (language_buffer[1] == LANGUAGE_VERSION)) {
+            lang_init();                    /* initialize with builtin */
             unsigned char *ptr=&language_buffer[2];
             int id;
             filesize-=2;
diff --git a/apps/language.h b/apps/language.h
index 62974459a5..80242962ea 100644
--- a/apps/language.h
+++ b/apps/language.h
@@ -24,5 +24,8 @@
 #define LANGUAGE_COOKIE  0x1a
 #define LANGUAGE_VERSION 0x02
 
+/* Initialize language array with the builtin strings */
+void lang_init(void);
+
 /* load a given language file */
 int lang_load(const char *filename);
diff --git a/apps/main.c b/apps/main.c
index cc270ba136..ef8ca7bea7 100644
--- a/apps/main.c
+++ b/apps/main.c
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ void init(void)
     lcd_init();
     font_init();
     show_logo();
+    lang_init();
     settings_reset();
     settings_calc_config_sector();
     settings_load(SETTINGS_ALL);
@@ -171,6 +172,7 @@ void init(void)
 
     font_init();
     show_logo();
+    lang_init();
 
     set_irq_level(0);
 #ifdef DEBUG
diff --git a/tools/genlang b/tools/genlang
index e13cd3faf9..2677735d2e 100755
--- a/tools/genlang
+++ b/tools/genlang
@@ -30,8 +30,11 @@ print HFILE <<MOO
  */
 #define str(x) language_strings[x]
 
-/* this is the array with all the strings */
+/* this is the array for holding the string pointers.
+   It will be initialized at runtime. */
 extern unsigned char *language_strings[];
+/* this contains the concatenation of all strings, separated by \0 chars */
+extern const unsigned char language_builtin[];
 
 /* The enum below contains all available strings */
 enum {
@@ -41,8 +44,11 @@ MOO
 print CFILE <<MOO
 /* This file was automaticly generated using genlang, the strings come
    from "$input" */
+   
+#include "$prefix.h"
 
-unsigned char *language_strings[]={
+unsigned char *language_strings[LANG_LAST_INDEX_IN_ARRAY];
+const unsigned char language_builtin[] =
 MOO
     ;
 
@@ -85,7 +91,8 @@ while(<LANG>) {
             }
             else {
                 push @hfile, $set{'id'};
-                print CFILE "    $value,\n";
+                $value =~ s/\"$/\\0\"/;
+                print CFILE "    $value\n";
             }
 
             undef %set;
@@ -118,7 +125,7 @@ MOO
     ;
 
 print CFILE <<MOO
-};
+;
 /* end of generated string list */
 MOO
     ;