diff --git a/apps/language.c b/apps/language.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a4b2b0dabc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/language.c
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/***************************************************************************
+ *             __________               __   ___.
+ *   Open      \______   \ ____   ____ |  | _\_ |__   _______  ___
+ *   Source     |       _//  _ \_/ ___\|  |/ /| __ \ /  _ \  \/  /
+ *   Jukebox    |    |   (  <_> )  \___|    < | \_\ (  <_> > <  <
+ *   Firmware   |____|_  /\____/ \___  >__|_ \|___  /\____/__/\_ \
+ *                     \/            \/     \/    \/            \/
+ * $Id$
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2002 Daniel Stenberg
+ *
+ * All files in this archive are subject to the GNU General Public License.
+ * See the file COPYING in the source tree root for full license agreement.
+ *
+ * This software is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.
+ *
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
+#include <file.h>
+
+#include "language.h"
+#include "lang.h"
+#include "debug.h"
+
+static unsigned char language_buffer[MAX_LANGUAGE_SIZE];
+
+void lang_load(char *filename)
+{
+  int filesize;
+  int fd = open(filename, O_RDONLY);
+  if(fd == -1)
+    return;
+  filesize = read(fd, language_buffer, MAX_LANGUAGE_SIZE);
+  if(filesize != MAX_LANGUAGE_SIZE) {
+    if((language_buffer[0] == LANGUAGE_COOKIE) &&
+       (language_buffer[1] == LANGUAGE_VERSION)) {
+      unsigned char *ptr=&language_buffer[2];
+      int id;
+      filesize-=2;
+
+      while(filesize>3) {
+        id = (ptr[0]<<8) | ptr[1];
+        ptr+=2;
+        language_strings[id] = ptr;
+        while(*ptr) {
+          filesize--;
+          ptr++;
+        }
+        filesize-=3;
+        ptr++; /* pass the terminating newline */
+      }
+
+    }
+    else {
+      DEBUGF("Illegal language file\n");
+    }
+  }
+  else {
+    DEBUGF("Language %s too large: %d\n", filename, filesize);
+  }
+  close(fd);
+}
+
+/* -----------------------------------------------------------------
+ * local variables:
+ * eval: (load-file "../firmware/rockbox-mode.el")
+ * vim: et sw=4 ts=8 sts=4 tw=78
+ * end:
+ */
diff --git a/apps/language.h b/apps/language.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..92b80ec018
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/language.h
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/***************************************************************************
+ *             __________               __   ___.
+ *   Open      \______   \ ____   ____ |  | _\_ |__   _______  ___
+ *   Source     |       _//  _ \_/ ___\|  |/ /| __ \ /  _ \  \/  /
+ *   Jukebox    |    |   (  <_> )  \___|    < | \_\ (  <_> > <  <
+ *   Firmware   |____|_  /\____/ \___  >__|_ \|___  /\____/__/\_ \
+ *                     \/            \/     \/    \/            \/
+ * $Id$
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2002 Daniel Stenberg
+ *
+ * All files in this archive are subject to the GNU General Public License.
+ * See the file COPYING in the source tree root for full license agreement.
+ *
+ * This software is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.
+ *
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
+/* size of the buffer used for loadable, translated strings */
+#define MAX_LANGUAGE_SIZE 4096
+
+/* both these must match the two initial bytes in the binary lang file */
+#define LANGUAGE_COOKIE  0x1a
+#define LANGUAGE_VERSION 0x01
+
+/* load a given language file */
+void lang_load(char *filename);
+
+/* -----------------------------------------------------------------
+ * local variables:
+ * eval: (load-file "../firmware/rockbox-mode.el")
+ * vim: et sw=4 ts=8 sts=4 tw=78
+ * end:
+ */