diff --git a/static/js/translations.js b/static/js/translations.js
index e8a8cdb9dc..c42b5470df 100644
--- a/static/js/translations.js
+++ b/static/js/translations.js
@@ -1,79 +1,30 @@
 // commonjs code goes here
-
 import i18next from 'i18next';
-import XHR from 'i18next-xhr-backend';
-import LngDetector from 'i18next-browser-languagedetector';
-import Cache from 'i18next-localstorage-cache';
-import localstorage from './localstorage';
 
 window.i18n = i18next;
 
-// Add those keys in this list which are received from the backend
-// and are translated by calling i18n.t function on variables. For example,
-// i18n.t(receivedFromBackend);
-var toBeTranslated = [  // eslint-disable-line no-unused-vars
-    // The Emoji type name for the "text" emojiset choice
-    i18n.t('Plain text'),
-];
-
-function loadPath(languages) {
-    var language = languages[0];
-    if (language.indexOf('-') >= 0) {
-        language = language.replace('-', '_');  // Change zh-Hans to zh_Hans.
-    }
-
-    return '/static/locale/' + language + '/translations.json';
-}
-
-var backendOptions = {
-    loadPath: loadPath,
-};
-var callbacks = [];
-var initialized = false;
-
-var detectionOptions = {
-    order: ['htmlTag'],
-    htmlTag: document.documentElement,
-};
-
-var cacheOptions = {
-    enabled: !page_params.development,
-    prefix: 'i18next:' + page_params.server_generation + ':',
-    expirationTime: 2*24*60*60*1000,  // 2 days
-};
-
-i18next.use(XHR)
-    .use(LngDetector)
-    .use(Cache)
+i18next
     .init({
+        lng: 'lang',
+        resources: {
+            lang: {
+                translation: page_params.translation_data,
+            },
+        },
         nsSeparator: false,
         keySeparator: false,
         interpolation: {
             prefix: "__",
             suffix: "__",
         },
-        backend: backendOptions,
-        detection: detectionOptions,
-        cache: cacheOptions,
-        fallbackLng: 'en',
         returnEmptyString: false,  // Empty string is not a valid translation.
-    }, function () {
-        var i;
-        initialized = true;
-        for (i=0; i<callbacks.length; i += 1) {
-            callbacks[i]();
-        }
     });
 
 i18next.ensure_i18n = function (callback) {
-    if (initialized) {
-        callback();
-    } else {
-        callbacks.push(callback);
-    }
+    callback();
 };
 
-// garbage collect all old i18n translation maps in localStorage.
+// garbage collect all old-style i18n translation maps in localStorage.
 $(function () {
     if (!localstorage.supported()) {
         return;
@@ -86,12 +37,9 @@ $(function () {
         return /^i18next:\d{10}:\w+$/.test(key);
     });
 
-    var current_generation_key = 'i18next:' + page_params.server_generation;
     // remove cached translations of older versions.
     translations.forEach(function (translation_key) {
-        if (translation_key.indexOf(current_generation_key) !== 0) {
-            localStorage.removeItem(translation_key);
-        }
+        localStorage.removeItem(translation_key);
     });
     return this;
 });