diff --git a/bin/miaou-bash b/bin/miaou-bash
index 59ec7e2..c5fc94c 100755
--- a/bin/miaou-bash
+++ b/bin/miaou-bash
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ function dump_stderr {
     local last_error="${tmp_error[-1]}"
     if [[ "$last_error" =~ $MIAOU_ERROR_REGEX ]]; then
       tmp_error_count=$((tmp_error_count - 1))
-      miaou_debug "<hide_latest_miaou_error line=${last_error} count=$tmp_error_count/>"
+      miaou_debug "<hide_latest_miaou_error count=$tmp_error_count line={${last_error}}/>"
       unset 'tmp_error[-1]'
       if [[ $tmp_error_count == 0 ]]; then
         # IDEA: grab last_stdout and test no carriage_return, cf: ../test/stub/tee_last_line.bash
@@ -653,6 +653,23 @@ function read {
   2>&1 builtin read "$@"
 }
 
+function load_locale {
+  MIAOU_LOCALE="${LANG%%_*}" # Get 'fr' from 'fr_FR.UTF-8'
+  if [[ $MIAOU_LOCALE =~ en|es|fr ]]; then
+    miaou_debug "<load_locale language=$MIAOU_LOCALE LANG=$LANG/>"
+  else
+    # fallback C/POSIX => en.sh
+    MIAOU_LOCALE=en
+    miaou_debug "<load_locale fallback=$MIAOU_LOCALE LANG=$LANG convert_to=C/>"
+    LANG=C
+    export LANG
+  fi
+  local locale_file
+  locale_file="${MIAOU_BASH_DIR}/locales/${MIAOU_LOCALE}.sh"
+  # shellcheck source=/dev/null
+  source "$locale_file"
+}
+
 ## main
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -685,6 +702,7 @@ else
     exec 4>/dev/tty
   fi
   exec 3>&2 2>"$MIAOU_BASH_ERROR"
+  load_locale
   miaou_debug "<main file=$BASH_ARGV0 pid=${BASHPID}/>"
 fi
 
diff --git a/locales/en.sh b/locales/en.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f242758
--- /dev/null
+++ b/locales/en.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# shellcheck disable=SC2034
+MSG_UNBOUND_VARIABLE_REGEX='^(.*): line ([0-9]+): (.*): unbound variable$'
diff --git a/locales/es.sh b/locales/es.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3e7e03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/locales/es.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# shellcheck disable=SC2034
+
+MSG_UNBOUND_VARIABLE_REGEX='^(.*): line ([0-9]+): (.*): unbound variable$'
diff --git a/locales/fr.sh b/locales/fr.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f242758
--- /dev/null
+++ b/locales/fr.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# shellcheck disable=SC2034
+MSG_UNBOUND_VARIABLE_REGEX='^(.*): line ([0-9]+): (.*): unbound variable$'
diff --git a/test/miaou-bash.test.bash b/test/miaou-bash.test.bash
index 58d981e..11d62cb 100755
--- a/test/miaou-bash.test.bash
+++ b/test/miaou-bash.test.bash
@@ -137,6 +137,47 @@ function fail_miaou_count {
   failures+=("$cmd 3>$TMP_MIAOU")
   return 1
 }
+
+function assert_locales_equally_populated {
+  ((test_count++))
+  local locales_dir="$MIAOU_BASH_DIR"/locales
+  local main_locale_file="$locales_dir"/"$1".sh
+  if [[ ! -f $main_locale_file ]]; then
+    echo -n F
+    failures+=("missing locale file: $main_locale_file for locale: $1")
+    return 1
+  fi
+  shift
+  if [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; then
+    local extra_locale_file difference variable_name
+    for extra in "$@"; do
+      extra_locale_file="$locales_dir"/"$extra".sh
+      if [[ ! -f $extra_locale_file ]]; then
+        echo -n F
+        failures+=("missing locale file: $extra_locale_file for locale: $extra")
+        return 1
+      fi
+      mapfile -t difference < <(
+        diff <(grep -oP '^\s*[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*' "$main_locale_file" | sort) \
+          <(grep -oP '^\s*[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*' "$extra_locale_file" | sort) \
+          2>&1 | head -n2
+      )
+      if [[ ${#difference[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
+        variable_name=$(echo "${difference[1]}" | cut -d' ' -f2)
+        change_type="${difference[0]}"
+        echo -n F
+        if [[ "$change_type" =~ d ]]; then
+          failures+=("locale=$extra (in $extra_locale_file) misses variable (to add): ${variable_name}")
+        else
+          failures+=("locale=$extra (in $extra_locale_file) useless variable (to remove): ${variable_name}")
+        fi
+        return 1
+      fi
+    done
+  fi
+  echo -n .
+}
+
 # main
 
 set -uo pipefail
@@ -181,6 +222,7 @@ time {
   fail_stderr_grep script_not_found "ERROR: script 'doesnt_exist' not found!"
   fail_stderr_grep no_script 'ERROR: script expected!'
 
+  assert_locales_equally_populated en es fr
   # TODO: I18n tests for:
   #         /opt/miaou-bash/test/stub/scenario.bash unbound_variable
   #         /opt/miaou-bash/test/stub/scenario.bash unbound_associative