diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 46c6cbb5..53102baf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ LC_ALL=pl ./vendor/bin/lint-query --query "SELECT 1"
 ```php
 require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
 
-$GLOBALS['lang'] = 'pl';
+PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser\Translator::setLocale('pl');
 
 $query1 = 'select * from a';
 $parser = new PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser\Parser($query1);
diff --git a/src/Translator.php b/src/Translator.php
index b0a9ebc5..1b527cc6 100644
--- a/src/Translator.php
+++ b/src/Translator.php
@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@
 namespace PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser;
 
 use PhpMyAdmin\MoTranslator\Loader;
+use PhpMyAdmin\MoTranslator\Translator as MoTranslator;
+use RuntimeException;
 
+use function assert;
 use function class_exists;
 
 /**
@@ -16,32 +19,42 @@ class Translator
     /**
      * The MoTranslator loader object.
      *
-     * @var Loader
+     * @var Loader|null
      */
     private static $loader;
 
     /**
      * The MoTranslator translator object.
      *
-     * @var \PhpMyAdmin\MoTranslator\Translator
+     * @var MoTranslator|null
      */
     private static $translator;
 
+    /** @var string */
+    private static $locale = '';
+
     /**
      * Loads translator.
      *
+     * @internal This method is not covered by the backward compatibility promise for SQL-Parser
+     *
      * @return void
      */
     public static function load()
     {
+        if (! class_exists(Loader::class)) {
+            throw new RuntimeException('The phpmyadmin/motranslator package is missing.');
+        }
+
         if (self::$loader === null) {
             // Create loader object
             self::$loader = new Loader();
 
-            // Set locale
-            self::$loader->setlocale(
-                self::$loader->detectlocale()
-            );
+            if (self::$locale === '') {
+                self::$locale = self::$loader->detectlocale();
+            }
+
+            self::$loader->setlocale(self::$locale);
 
             // Set default text domain
             self::$loader->textdomain('sqlparser');
@@ -67,12 +80,23 @@ public static function load()
      */
     public static function gettext($msgid)
     {
-        if (! class_exists('\PhpMyAdmin\MoTranslator\Loader', true)) {
+        if (! class_exists(Loader::class)) {
             return $msgid;
         }
 
         self::load();
+        assert(self::$translator instanceof MoTranslator);
 
         return self::$translator->gettext($msgid);
     }
+
+    public static function setLocale(string $locale): void
+    {
+        self::$locale = $locale;
+    }
+
+    public static function getLocale(): string
+    {
+        return self::$locale;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/Misc/TranslatorTest.php b/tests/Misc/TranslatorTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ff46d538
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Misc/TranslatorTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser\Tests\Misc;
+
+use PhpMyAdmin\MoTranslator\Loader;
+use PhpMyAdmin\MoTranslator\Translator as MoTranslator;
+use PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser\Translator;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use ReflectionClass;
+use ReflectionProperty;
+
+use function realpath;
+
+/** @covers \PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser\Translator */
+final class TranslatorTest extends TestCase
+{
+    public static function tearDownAfterClass(): void
+    {
+        $loaderProperty = new ReflectionProperty(Translator::class, 'loader');
+        $loaderProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        $loaderProperty->setValue(null, null);
+        $translatorProperty = new ReflectionProperty(Translator::class, 'translator');
+        $translatorProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        $translatorProperty->setValue(null, null);
+        Translator::setLocale('en');
+    }
+
+    public function testLocale(): void
+    {
+        Translator::setLocale('en');
+        self::assertSame('en', Translator::getLocale());
+        Translator::setLocale('fr');
+        self::assertSame('fr', Translator::getLocale());
+        Translator::setLocale('');
+        self::assertSame('', Translator::getLocale());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @testWith [null, "en", "en"]
+     *           [null, "fr", "fr"]
+     *           ["en", "", "en"]
+     *           ["fr", "", "fr"]
+     */
+    public function testLoad(?string $globalLang, string $locale, string $expectedLocale): void
+    {
+        $loaderProperty = new ReflectionProperty(Translator::class, 'loader');
+        $loaderProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        $loaderProperty->setValue(null, null);
+        $translatorProperty = new ReflectionProperty(Translator::class, 'translator');
+        $translatorProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        $translatorProperty->setValue(null, null);
+        $GLOBALS['lang'] = $globalLang;
+        Translator::setLocale($locale);
+
+        Translator::load();
+
+        self::assertSame($expectedLocale, Translator::getLocale());
+        self::assertInstanceOf(MoTranslator::class, $translatorProperty->getValue());
+        $loader = $loaderProperty->getValue();
+        self::assertInstanceOf(Loader::class, $loader);
+        $loaderClass = new ReflectionClass(Loader::class);
+        $localeProperty = $loaderClass->getProperty('locale');
+        $localeProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        self::assertSame($expectedLocale, $localeProperty->getValue($loader));
+        // Compatibility with MoTranslator < 5
+        $defaultDomainProperty = $loaderClass->hasProperty('default_domain')
+            ? $loaderClass->getProperty('default_domain')
+            : $loaderClass->getProperty('defaultDomain');
+        $defaultDomainProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        self::assertSame('sqlparser', $defaultDomainProperty->getValue($loader));
+        $pathsProperty = $loaderClass->getProperty('paths');
+        $pathsProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        self::assertSame(
+            ['' => './', 'sqlparser' => realpath(__DIR__ . '/../../src/') . '/../locale/'],
+            $pathsProperty->getValue($loader)
+        );
+    }
+
+    public function testGettext(): void
+    {
+        $loaderProperty = new ReflectionProperty(Translator::class, 'loader');
+        $loaderProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        $loaderProperty->setValue(null, null);
+        $translatorProperty = new ReflectionProperty(Translator::class, 'translator');
+        $translatorProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        $translatorProperty->setValue(null, null);
+        Translator::setLocale('pt_BR');
+        self::assertSame(
+            'Início de declaração inesperado.',
+            Translator::gettext('Unexpected beginning of statement.')
+        );
+
+        $loaderProperty = new ReflectionProperty(Translator::class, 'loader');
+        $loaderProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        $loaderProperty->setValue(null, null);
+        $translatorProperty = new ReflectionProperty(Translator::class, 'translator');
+        $translatorProperty->setAccessible(true);
+        $translatorProperty->setValue(null, null);
+        Translator::setLocale('en');
+        self::assertSame(
+            'Unexpected beginning of statement.',
+            Translator::gettext('Unexpected beginning of statement.')
+        );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/TestCase.php b/tests/TestCase.php
index 8351a84b..766a90a4 100644
--- a/tests/TestCase.php
+++ b/tests/TestCase.php
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 use PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser\Token;
 use PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser\TokensList;
 use PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser\Tools\CustomJsonSerializer;
+use PhpMyAdmin\SqlParser\Translator;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase as BaseTestCase;
 
 use function file_get_contents;
@@ -26,13 +27,12 @@ abstract class TestCase extends BaseTestCase
 {
     public function setUp(): void
     {
-        global $lang;
         // This line makes sure the test suite uses English so we can assert
         // on the error messages, if it is not here you will need to use
         // LC_ALL=C ./vendor/bin/phpunit
         // Users can have French language as default on their OS
         // That would make the assertions fail
-        $lang = 'en';
+        Translator::setLocale('en');
         Context::load();
     }