diff --git a/packages/frontend/tsconfig.json b/packages/frontend/tsconfig.json
index 9484f32365..c4098ecafe 100644
--- a/packages/frontend/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/frontend/tsconfig.json
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     "allowJs": false,
     "esModuleInterop": true,
     "moduleResolution": "node",
+    "resolveJsonModule": true,
     "strictNullChecks": true,
     "strict": true,
     "plugins": [{ "name": "typescript-plugin-css-modules" }]
diff --git a/packages/shared/localize.ts b/packages/shared/localize.ts
index 2021154e71..cdbad4298f 100644
--- a/packages/shared/localize.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/localize.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { getLogger } from './logger.js'
+import { TranslationKey } from './translationKeyType.js'
 const log = getLogger('localize')
 
 export interface LocaleData {
@@ -12,12 +13,18 @@ export interface LocaleData {
   }
 }
 
+// Solution to typescript thinking our variants can be just combined into the type string
+// adapted from https://github.com/sindresorhus/type-fest/blob/cabce984e5c19558f2f0061c3cd9488a945f60e6/source/literal-union.d.ts
+export type LiteralUnion<LiteralType> =
+  | LiteralType
+  | (string & Record<never, never>)
+
 // 'other' should exists for all languages (source?)
 // https://www.unicode.org/cldr/charts/43/supplemental/language_plural_rules.html
 type getMessageOptions = { quantity?: 'other' | number }
 
 export type getMessageFunction = (
-  key: string,
+  key: LiteralUnion<TranslationKey>,
   substitutions?: string | string[],
   raw_opts?: 'other' | getMessageOptions
 ) => string
@@ -44,19 +51,20 @@ export function translate(
   }
 
   function getMessage(
-    key: string,
+    key: LiteralUnion<TranslationKey>,
     substitutions?: string | string[],
     raw_opts?: 'other' | getMessageOptions
   ) {
+    const translationKey = key as string
     let opts: getMessageOptions = {}
     if (typeof raw_opts === 'string') opts = { quantity: raw_opts }
     else opts = Object.assign({}, raw_opts)
 
-    const entry = messages[key]
+    const entry = messages[translationKey]
 
     if (!entry) {
-      log.error(`Missing translation for key '${key}'`)
-      return key
+      log.error(`Missing translation for key '${translationKey}'`)
+      return translationKey
     }
 
     let message: string | undefined = entry.message
@@ -89,16 +97,18 @@ export function translate(
         message = undefined
       }
       if (typeof message === 'undefined') {
-        log.error(`Missing quantity '${opts.quantity}' for key '${key}'`)
-        return `${key}:${opts.quantity}`
+        log.error(
+          `Missing quantity '${opts.quantity}' for key '${translationKey}'`
+        )
+        return `${translationKey}:${opts.quantity}`
       }
     }
 
     if (typeof message === 'undefined') {
       log.error(
-        `Missing 'message' for key '${key}', maybe you need to specify quantity`
+        `Missing 'message' for key '${translationKey}', maybe you need to specify quantity`
       )
-      return `${key}:?`
+      return `${translationKey}:?`
     }
 
     if (substitutions) {
@@ -112,7 +122,7 @@ export function translate(
           substitutions === undefined ||
           typeof substitutions[c] === 'undefined'
         ) {
-          log.error(`Missing ${c} argument for key %c'${key}'`)
+          log.error(`Missing ${c} argument for key %c'${translationKey}'`)
           return ''
         }
         return substitutions[c++].toString()
diff --git a/packages/shared/translationKeyType.d.ts b/packages/shared/translationKeyType.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8496babc7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/shared/translationKeyType.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+//@ts-ignore
+import type english from '../../_locales/en.json'
+//@ts-ignore
+import type untranslated from '../../_locales/_untranslated_en.json'
+
+//@ts-ignore
+export type TranslationKey = keyof typeof english | keyof typeof untranslated
+
+// The ignore here is to make it optional,
+// if the import fails (because resolveJsonModule=false) it should bring down everything with it.
+// currently this type is not used for checking, but just for autocompletion
diff --git a/packages/shared/tsconfig.json b/packages/shared/tsconfig.json
index 219b7c47c3..5b9bd675fb 100644
--- a/packages/shared/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/shared/tsconfig.json
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@
     "allowJs": false,
     "strictNullChecks": true,
     "strict": true,
+    "resolveJsonModule": true,
     "moduleResolution": "NodeNext"
   },
-  "include": ["./**/*.ts", "./**/*.js"],
+  "include": ["./**/*.ts", "./**/*.js", "../../_locales/*.json"],
   "exclude": ["./ts-compiled-for-tests"]
 }
diff --git a/packages/target-browser/tsconfig.json b/packages/target-browser/tsconfig.json
index 485724f9ad..20e3ead678 100644
--- a/packages/target-browser/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/target-browser/tsconfig.json
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     "allowJs": false,
     "esModuleInterop": true,
     "moduleResolution": "Node10",
+    "resolveJsonModule": true,
     "strictNullChecks": true,
     "strict": true
   },
diff --git a/packages/target-electron/src/load-translations.ts b/packages/target-electron/src/load-translations.ts
index b6ae86d58d..e67fc05ef3 100644
--- a/packages/target-electron/src/load-translations.ts
+++ b/packages/target-electron/src/load-translations.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ let translateFunction: getMessageFunction | null = null
 export const tx: getMessageFunction = function (key, substitutions, raw_opts) {
   if (translateFunction === null) {
     log.error('tried to use translation function before init')
-    return key
+    return key as string
   }
   return translateFunction(key, substitutions, raw_opts)
 }