diff --git a/proto/backend.proto b/proto/backend.proto
index 5e6e151c8..2d958d6cc 100644
--- a/proto/backend.proto
+++ b/proto/backend.proto
@@ -81,7 +81,6 @@ message StringError {
 
 message TemplateParseError {
     string info = 1;
-    bool q_side = 2;
 }
 
 message NetworkError {
diff --git a/pylib/anki/rsbackend.py b/pylib/anki/rsbackend.py
index 0c9a55200..72360806d 100644
--- a/pylib/anki/rsbackend.py
+++ b/pylib/anki/rsbackend.py
@@ -46,8 +46,7 @@ class DBError(StringError):
 
 
 class TemplateError(StringError):
-    def q_side(self) -> bool:
-        return self.args[1]
+    pass
 
 
 SyncErrorKind = pb.SyncError.SyncErrorKind
@@ -70,7 +69,7 @@ def proto_exception_to_native(err: pb.BackendError) -> Exception:
     elif val == "db_error":
         return DBError(err.db_error.info)
     elif val == "template_parse":
-        return TemplateError(err.template_parse.info, err.template_parse.q_side)
+        return TemplateError(err.template_parse.info)
     elif val == "invalid_input":
         return StringError(err.invalid_input.info)
     elif val == "sync_error":
diff --git a/pylib/anki/template.py b/pylib/anki/template.py
index 3ba3afe80..238b0764f 100644
--- a/pylib/anki/template.py
+++ b/pylib/anki/template.py
@@ -121,17 +121,9 @@ def render_card(
     try:
         output = render_card_from_context(ctx)
     except anki.rsbackend.TemplateError as e:
-        if e.q_side():
-            side = _("Front")
-        else:
-            side = _("Back")
-        errmsg = _("{} template has a problem:").format(side) + f"<br>{e}"
-        errmsg += "<br><a href=https://anki.tenderapp.com/kb/problems/card-template-has-a-problem>{}</a>".format(
-            _("More info")
-        )
         output = TemplateRenderOutput(
-            question_text=errmsg,
-            answer_text=errmsg,
+            question_text=str(e),
+            answer_text=str(e),
             question_av_tags=[],
             answer_av_tags=[],
         )
diff --git a/rslib/src/backend.rs b/rslib/src/backend.rs
index 4e1c66717..60a7f2b5d 100644
--- a/rslib/src/backend.rs
+++ b/rslib/src/backend.rs
@@ -43,9 +43,7 @@ impl std::convert::From<AnkiError> for pb::BackendError {
         use pb::backend_error::Value as V;
         let value = match err {
             AnkiError::InvalidInput { info } => V::InvalidInput(pb::StringError { info }),
-            AnkiError::TemplateError { info, q_side } => {
-                V::TemplateParse(pb::TemplateParseError { info, q_side })
-            }
+            AnkiError::TemplateError { info } => V::TemplateParse(pb::TemplateParseError { info }),
             AnkiError::IOError { info } => V::IoError(pb::StringError { info }),
             AnkiError::DBError { info } => V::DbError(pb::StringError { info }),
             AnkiError::NetworkError { info, kind } => V::NetworkError(pb::NetworkError {
@@ -280,6 +278,7 @@ impl Backend {
             &input.answer_template,
             &fields,
             input.card_ordinal as u16,
+            &self.i18n,
         )?;
 
         // return
diff --git a/rslib/src/err.rs b/rslib/src/err.rs
index 303e24b98..f63aea920 100644
--- a/rslib/src/err.rs
+++ b/rslib/src/err.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ pub enum AnkiError {
     InvalidInput { info: String },
 
     #[fail(display = "invalid card template: {}", info)]
-    TemplateError { info: String, q_side: bool },
+    TemplateError { info: String },
 
     #[fail(display = "I/O error: {}", info)]
     IOError { info: String },
diff --git a/rslib/src/i18n/card-templates.ftl b/rslib/src/i18n/card-templates.ftl
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b3695c7db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rslib/src/i18n/card-templates.ftl
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+front-side-problem = Front template has a problem:
+back-side-problem = Back template has a problem:
+
+no-closing-brackets =
+  Missing '{$missing}' in '{$tag}'
+conditional-not-closed =
+  Missing '{$missing}'
+wrong-conditional-closed =
+  Found '{$found}', but expected '{$expected}'
+conditional-not-open =
+  Found '{$found}', but missing '{$missing1}' or '{$missing2}'
+no-such-field =
+  Found '{$found}', but there is no field called '{$field}'
+
+more-info = More information
diff --git a/rslib/src/i18n/mod.rs b/rslib/src/i18n/mod.rs
index 37bbb9fb1..9e3f9953d 100644
--- a/rslib/src/i18n/mod.rs
+++ b/rslib/src/i18n/mod.rs
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ pub enum LanguageDialect {
     ChineseTaiwan,
 }
 
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Clone, Copy)]
+pub enum TranslationFile {
+    Test,
+    MediaCheck,
+    CardTemplates,
+}
+
 fn lang_dialect(lang: LanguageIdentifier) -> Option<LanguageDialect> {
     use LanguageDialect as L;
     Some(match lang.get_language() {
@@ -54,16 +61,11 @@ fn dialect_file_locale(dialect: LanguageDialect) -> &'static str {
     }
 }
 
-#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Clone, Copy)]
-pub enum TranslationFile {
-    Test,
-    MediaCheck,
-}
-
 fn data_for_fallback(file: TranslationFile) -> String {
     match file {
-        TranslationFile::MediaCheck => include_str!("media-check.ftl"),
         TranslationFile::Test => include_str!("../../tests/support/test.ftl"),
+        TranslationFile::MediaCheck => include_str!("media-check.ftl"),
+        TranslationFile::CardTemplates => include_str!("card-templates.ftl"),
     }
     .to_string()
 }
@@ -74,8 +76,9 @@ fn data_for_lang_and_file(
     locales: &Path,
 ) -> Option<String> {
     let path = locales.join(dialect_file_locale(dialect)).join(match file {
-        TranslationFile::MediaCheck => "media-check.ftl",
         TranslationFile::Test => "test.ftl",
+        TranslationFile::MediaCheck => "media-check.ftl",
+        TranslationFile::CardTemplates => "card-templates.ftl",
     });
     fs::read_to_string(&path)
         .map_err(|e| {
diff --git a/rslib/src/template.rs b/rslib/src/template.rs
index 318d26376..9e06f3e33 100644
--- a/rslib/src/template.rs
+++ b/rslib/src/template.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 // License: GNU AGPL, version 3 or later; http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html
 
 use crate::err::{AnkiError, Result, TemplateError};
+use crate::i18n::{tr_strs, I18n, I18nCategory, TranslationFile};
 use crate::template_filters::apply_filters;
 use lazy_static::lazy_static;
 use nom;
@@ -17,6 +18,9 @@ use std::iter;
 pub type FieldMap<'a> = HashMap<&'a str, u16>;
 type TemplateResult<T> = std::result::Result<T, TemplateError>;
 
+static TEMPLATE_ERROR_LINK: &str =
+    "https://anki.tenderapp.com/kb/problems/card-template-has-a-problem";
+
 // Lexing
 //----------------------------------------
 
@@ -189,30 +193,60 @@ fn parse_inner<'a, I: Iterator<Item = TemplateResult<Token<'a>>>>(
     }
 }
 
-fn template_error_to_anki_error(err: TemplateError, q_side: bool) -> AnkiError {
-    AnkiError::TemplateError {
-        info: match err {
-            TemplateError::NoClosingBrackets(context) => format!("Missing '}}}}' in '{}'", context),
-            TemplateError::ConditionalNotClosed(tag) => format!("Missing '{{{{/{}}}}}'", tag),
-            TemplateError::ConditionalNotOpen {
-                closed,
-                currently_open,
-            } => {
-                if let Some(open) = currently_open {
-                    format!("Found {{{{/{}}}}}, but expected {{{{/{}}}}}", closed, open)
-                } else {
-                    format!(
-                        "Found {{{{/{}}}}}, but missing '{{{{#{}}}}}' or '{{{{^{}}}}}'",
-                        closed, closed, closed
-                    )
-                }
+fn template_error_to_anki_error(err: TemplateError, q_side: bool, i18n: &I18n) -> AnkiError {
+    let cat = i18n.get(TranslationFile::CardTemplates);
+    let header = cat.tr(if q_side {
+        "front-side-problem"
+    } else {
+        "back-side-problem"
+    });
+    let details = localized_template_error(&cat, err);
+    let more_info = cat.tr("more-info");
+    let info = format!(
+        "{}<br>{}<br><a href='{}'>{}</a>",
+        header, details, TEMPLATE_ERROR_LINK, more_info
+    );
+
+    AnkiError::TemplateError { info }
+}
+
+fn localized_template_error(cat: &I18nCategory, err: TemplateError) -> String {
+    match err {
+        TemplateError::NoClosingBrackets(tag) => {
+            cat.trn("no-closing-brackets", tr_strs!("tag"=>tag, "missing"=>"}}"))
+        }
+        TemplateError::ConditionalNotClosed(tag) => cat.trn(
+            "conditional-not-closed",
+            tr_strs!("missing"=>format!("{{{{/{}}}}}", tag)),
+        ),
+        TemplateError::ConditionalNotOpen {
+            closed,
+            currently_open,
+        } => {
+            if let Some(open) = currently_open {
+                cat.trn(
+                    "wrong-conditional-closed",
+                    tr_strs!(
+                "found"=>format!("{{{{/{}}}}}", closed),
+                "expected"=>format!("{{{{/{}}}}}", open)),
+                )
+            } else {
+                cat.trn(
+                    "conditional-not-open",
+                    tr_strs!(
+                    "found"=>format!("{{{{/{}}}}}", closed),
+                    "missing1"=>format!("{{{{#{}}}}}", closed),
+                    "missing2"=>format!("{{{{^{}}}}}", closed)
+                    ),
+                )
             }
-            TemplateError::FieldNotFound { field, filters } => format!(
-                "Found '{{{{{}{}}}}}', but there is no field called '{}'",
-                filters, field, field
-            ),
-        },
-        q_side,
+        }
+        TemplateError::FieldNotFound { field, filters } => cat.trn(
+            "no-such-field",
+            tr_strs!(
+            "found"=>format!("{{{{{}{}}}}}", filters, field),
+            "field"=>field),
+        ),
     }
 }
 
@@ -454,6 +488,7 @@ pub fn render_card(
     afmt: &str,
     field_map: &HashMap<&str, &str>,
     card_ord: u16,
+    i18n: &I18n,
 ) -> Result<(Vec<RenderedNode>, Vec<RenderedNode>)> {
     // prepare context
     let mut context = RenderContext {
@@ -467,14 +502,14 @@ pub fn render_card(
     let qnorm = without_legacy_template_directives(qfmt);
     let qnodes = ParsedTemplate::from_text(qnorm.as_ref())
         .and_then(|tmpl| tmpl.render(&context))
-        .map_err(|e| template_error_to_anki_error(e, true))?;
+        .map_err(|e| template_error_to_anki_error(e, true, i18n))?;
 
     // answer side
     context.question_side = false;
     let anorm = without_legacy_template_directives(afmt);
     let anodes = ParsedTemplate::from_text(anorm.as_ref())
         .and_then(|tmpl| tmpl.render(&context))
-        .map_err(|e| template_error_to_anki_error(e, false))?;
+        .map_err(|e| template_error_to_anki_error(e, false, i18n))?;
 
     Ok((qnodes, anodes))
 }