diff --git a/src/core/friendly_errors/validate_params.js b/src/core/friendly_errors/validate_params.js
index 2e13f962cf..6eab203ba9 100644
--- a/src/core/friendly_errors/validate_params.js
+++ b/src/core/friendly_errors/validate_params.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
  */
 import p5 from '../main';
 import * as constants from '../constants';
+import { translator } from '../internationalization';
 
 if (typeof IS_MINIFIED !== 'undefined') {
   p5._validateParameters = p5._clearValidateParamsCache = () => {};
@@ -484,6 +485,7 @@ if (typeof IS_MINIFIED !== 'undefined') {
   // function for generating console.log() msg
   p5._friendlyParamError = function(errorObj, func) {
     let message;
+    let translationObj;
 
     function formatType() {
       const format = errorObj.format;
@@ -494,9 +496,20 @@ if (typeof IS_MINIFIED !== 'undefined') {
 
     switch (errorObj.type) {
       case 'EMPTY_VAR': {
-        message = `${func}() was expecting ${formatType()} for parameter #${
-          errorObj.position
-        } (zero-based index), received an empty variable instead. If not intentional, this is often a problem with scope: [https://p5js.org/examples/data-variable-scope.html]`;
+        translationObj = {
+          func,
+          formatType: formatType(),
+          // It needs to be this way for i18next-extract to work. The comment
+          // specifies the values that the context can take so that it can
+          // statically prepare the translation files with them.
+          /* i18next-extract-mark-context-next-line ["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "11", "12"] */
+          position: translator('fes.positions.p', {
+            context: (errorObj.position + 1).toString(),
+            defaultValue: (errorObj.position + 1).toString()
+          }),
+          link: '[https://p5js.org/examples/data-variable-scope.html]'
+        };
+
         break;
       }
       case 'WRONG_TYPE': {
@@ -505,26 +518,41 @@ if (typeof IS_MINIFIED !== 'undefined') {
           arg instanceof Array
             ? 'array'
             : arg === null ? 'null' : arg.name || typeof arg;
-        message = `${func}() was expecting ${formatType()} for parameter #${
-          errorObj.position
-        } (zero-based index), received ${argType} instead`;
+
+        translationObj = {
+          func,
+          formatType: formatType(),
+          argType,
+          /* i18next-extract-mark-context-next-line ["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "11", "12"] */
+          position: translator('fes.positions.p', {
+            context: (errorObj.position + 1).toString(),
+            defaultValue: (errorObj.position + 1).toString()
+          })
+        };
+
         break;
       }
       case 'TOO_FEW_ARGUMENTS': {
-        message = `${func}() was expecting at least ${
-          errorObj.minParams
-        } arguments, but received only ${errorObj.argCount}`;
+        translationObj = {
+          func,
+          minParams: errorObj.minParams,
+          argCount: errorObj.argCount
+        };
+
         break;
       }
       case 'TOO_MANY_ARGUMENTS': {
-        message = `${func}() was expecting no more than ${
-          errorObj.maxParams
-        } arguments, but received ${errorObj.argCount}`;
+        translationObj = {
+          func,
+          maxParams: errorObj.maxParams,
+          argCount: errorObj.argCount
+        };
+
         break;
       }
     }
 
-    if (message) {
+    if (translationObj) {
       try {
         // const re = /Function\.validateParameters.*[\r\n].*[\r\n].*\(([^)]*)/;
         const myError = new Error();
@@ -544,13 +572,18 @@ if (typeof IS_MINIFIED !== 'undefined') {
           parsed[3].columnNumber
         }`;
         if (location) {
-          message += ` at ${location}`;
+          translationObj.location = translator('fes.location', { location });
         }
       } catch (err) {
         if (err instanceof p5.ValidationError) {
           throw err;
         }
       }
+
+      translationObj.context = errorObj.type;
+      // i18next-extract-mark-context-next-line ["EMPTY_VAR", "TOO_MANY_ARGUMENTS", "TOO_FEW_ARGUMENTS", "WRONG_TYPE"]
+      message = translator('fes.friendlyParamError.type', translationObj);
+
       p5._friendlyError(`${message}.`, func, 3);
     }
   };
diff --git a/src/core/internationalization.js b/src/core/internationalization.js
index 04d82a44ba..97d01860ca 100644
--- a/src/core/internationalization.js
+++ b/src/core/internationalization.js
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 import i18next from 'i18next';
 import LanguageDetector from 'i18next-browser-languagedetector';
-import resources from '../../translations';
+
+let resources;
+// Do not include translations in the minified js
+if (typeof IS_MINIFIED === 'undefined') {
+  resources = require('../../translations').default;
+}
 
 /**
  * This is our translation function. Give it a key and
@@ -31,6 +36,7 @@ export const initialize = () =>
         nestingPrefix: '$tr(',
         nestingSuffix: ')',
         defaultNS: 'translation',
+        returnEmptyString: false,
         interpolation: {
           escapeValue: false
         },
diff --git a/tasks/build/browserify.js b/tasks/build/browserify.js
index c940504eda..701ecefbbd 100644
--- a/tasks/build/browserify.js
+++ b/tasks/build/browserify.js
@@ -39,7 +39,9 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
         browseified = browseified
           .exclude('../../docs/reference/data.json')
           .exclude('../../../docs/parameterData.json')
-          .ignore('../../translations/index.js');
+          .exclude('../../translations')
+          .ignore('i18next')
+          .ignore('i18next-browser-languagedetector');
       }
 
       const babelifyOpts = { plugins: ['static-fs'] };
diff --git a/translations/en/translation.json b/translations/en/translation.json
index 3e1f5a522d..4c77eeb508 100644
--- a/translations/en/translation.json
+++ b/translations/en/translation.json
@@ -13,7 +13,28 @@
       "table": "It looks like there was a problem loading your table file. {{suggestion}}",
       "xml": "It looks like there was a problem loading your XML file. {{suggestion}}"
     },
+    "friendlyParamError": {
+      "type_EMPTY_VAR": "{{func}}() was expecting {{formatType}} for the {{position}} parameter, received an empty variable instead. {{location}}\n\nIf not intentional, this is often a problem with scope: {{link}}",
+      "type_TOO_FEW_ARGUMENTS": "{{func}}() was expecting at least {{minParams}} arguments, but received only {{argCount}}. {{location}}",
+      "type_TOO_MANY_ARGUMENTS": "{{func}}() was expecting no more than {{maxParams}} arguments, but received {{argCount}}. {{location}}",
+      "type_WRONG_TYPE": "{{func}}() was expecting {{formatType}} for the {{position}} parameter, received {{argType}} instead. {{location}}"
+    },
+    "location": "(at {{location}})",
     "misusedTopLevel": "Did you just try to use p5.js's {{symbolName}} {{symbolType}}? If so, you may want to move it into your sketch's setup() function.\n\nFor more details, see: {{link}}",
+    "positions": {
+      "p_1": "first",
+      "p_10": "tenth",
+      "p_11": "eleventh",
+      "p_12": "twelfth",
+      "p_2": "second",
+      "p_3": "third",
+      "p_4": "fourth",
+      "p_5": "fifth",
+      "p_6": "sixth",
+      "p_7": "seventh",
+      "p_8": "eighth",
+      "p_9": "ninth"
+    },
     "pre": "🌸 p5.js says: {{message}}",
     "welcome": "Welcome! This is your friendly debugger. To turn me off, switch to using p5.min.js."
   }
diff --git a/translations/es/translation.json b/translations/es/translation.json
index d91413c8eb..b2fbe22131 100644
--- a/translations/es/translation.json
+++ b/translations/es/translation.json
@@ -13,7 +13,28 @@
       "table": "",
       "xml": ""
     },
+    "friendlyParamError": {
+      "type_EMPTY_VAR": "",
+      "type_TOO_FEW_ARGUMENTS": "",
+      "type_TOO_MANY_ARGUMENTS": "",
+      "type_WRONG_TYPE": ""
+    },
+    "location": "",
     "misusedTopLevel": "",
+    "positions": {
+      "p_1": "",
+      "p_10": "",
+      "p_11": "",
+      "p_12": "",
+      "p_2": "",
+      "p_3": "",
+      "p_4": "",
+      "p_5": "",
+      "p_6": "",
+      "p_7": "",
+      "p_8": "",
+      "p_9": ""
+    },
     "pre": "🌸 p5.js dice: {{message}}",
     "welcome": ""
   }