diff --git a/android/app/build.gradle b/android/app/build.gradle
index b268dd3cb..d73fbb766 100644
--- a/android/app/build.gradle
+++ b/android/app/build.gradle
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@ task prepareAssets() {
 	def projRoot = rootDir.parent
 	def gameToCopy = "minetest_game"
 
+	// See issue #4638
+	def unsupportedLanguages = new File("${projRoot}/src/unsupported_language_list.txt").text.readLines()
+
 	doFirst {
 		logger.lifecycle('Preparing assets at {}', assetsFolder)
 	}
@@ -86,7 +89,9 @@ task prepareAssets() {
 		}
 
 		// compile translations
-		fileTree("${projRoot}/po").include("**/*.po").forEach { poFile ->
+		fileTree("${projRoot}/po").include("**/*.po").grep {
+			it.parentFile.name !in unsupportedLanguages
+		}.forEach { poFile ->
 			def moPath = "${assetsFolder}/locale/${poFile.parentFile.name}/LC_MESSAGES/"
 			file(moPath).mkdirs()
 			exec {
diff --git a/builtin/mainmenu/settings/dlg_settings.lua b/builtin/mainmenu/settings/dlg_settings.lua
index 0b8628d81..a397b1fe3 100644
--- a/builtin/mainmenu/settings/dlg_settings.lua
+++ b/builtin/mainmenu/settings/dlg_settings.lua
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ end
 
 -- These must not be translated, as they need to show in the local
 -- language no matter the user's current language.
+-- This list must be kept in sync with src/unsupported_language_list.txt.
 get_setting_info("language").option_labels = {
 	[""] = fgettext_ne("(Use system language)"),
 	--ar = " [ar]", blacklisted
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 3f14e8ec0..2e0fdc7c1 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -660,17 +660,9 @@ if(BUILD_SERVER)
 	endif()
 endif(BUILD_SERVER)
 
-# Blacklisted locales that don't work.
-# see issue #4638
-set(GETTEXT_BLACKLISTED_LOCALES
-	ar
-	dv
-	he
-	hi
-	kn
-	ms_Arab
-	th
-)
+# See issue #4638
+FILE(READ "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/unsupported_language_list.txt" GETTEXT_BLACKLISTED_LOCALES)
+STRING(REGEX REPLACE "\n" ";" GETTEXT_BLACKLISTED_LOCALES "${GETTEXT_BLACKLISTED_LOCALES}")
 
 option(APPLY_LOCALE_BLACKLIST "Use a blacklist to avoid known broken locales" TRUE)
 
diff --git a/src/unsupported_language_list.txt b/src/unsupported_language_list.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..20b8445e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/unsupported_language_list.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+List of languages that are not supported. See issue #4638.
+ar
+dv
+he
+hi
+kn
+ms_Arab
+th