diff --git a/apps/utils/middleware.py b/apps/utils/middleware.py
index 855c4f9e..398e4437 100644
--- a/apps/utils/middleware.py
+++ b/apps/utils/middleware.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 """Custom middleware."""
 from django.utils import translation
 from configuration.models import TranslationSettings
+from translation.models import Language
+
 
 def get_locale(cookie_dict):
     return cookie_dict.get('locale')
@@ -14,9 +16,10 @@ def parse_cookies(get_response):
     """Parse cookies."""
     def middleware(request):
         cookie_dict = request.COOKIES
-
         # processing locale cookie
-        locale = get_locale(cookie_dict) or TranslationSettings.get_solo().default_language
+        locale = get_locale(cookie_dict)
+        if not Language.objects.filter(locale=locale).exists():
+            locale = TranslationSettings.get_solo().default_language
         translation.activate(locale)
         request.locale = locale
 
diff --git a/apps/utils/models.py b/apps/utils/models.py
index b9ed82a6..0e7fdd7f 100644
--- a/apps/utils/models.py
+++ b/apps/utils/models.py
@@ -36,9 +36,9 @@ def to_locale(language):
     if not country:
         return language
     # A language with > 2 characters after the dash only has its first
-    # character after the dash capitalized; e.g. sr-latn becomes sr_Latn.
+    # character after the dash capitalized; e.g. sr-latn becomes sr-Latn.
     # A language with 2 characters after the dash has both characters
-    # capitalized; e.g. en-us becomes en_US.
+    # capitalized; e.g. en-us becomes en-US.
     country, _, tail = country.partition('-')
     country = country.title() if len(country) > 2 else country.upper()
     if tail: