diff --git a/.deadcode-out b/.deadcode-out
index 31184826ae..5b5698c5de 100644
--- a/.deadcode-out
+++ b/.deadcode-out
@@ -192,6 +192,9 @@ forgejo.org/modules/translation
 	MockLocale.HasKey
 	MockLocale.PrettyNumber
 
+forgejo.org/modules/translation/localeiter
+	IterateMessagesContent
+
 forgejo.org/modules/util
 	OptionalArg
 
diff --git a/build/lint-locale-usage/lint-locale-usage.go b/build/lint-locale-usage/lint-locale-usage.go
index edbd086d0e..88375c1c36 100644
--- a/build/lint-locale-usage/lint-locale-usage.go
+++ b/build/lint-locale-usage/lint-locale-usage.go
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ import (
 	tmplParser "text/template/parse"
 
 	"forgejo.org/modules/container"
-	"forgejo.org/modules/locale"
 	fjTemplates "forgejo.org/modules/templates"
+	"forgejo.org/modules/translation/localeiter"
 	"forgejo.org/modules/util"
 )
 
@@ -300,10 +300,6 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	msgids := make(container.Set[string])
-	onMsgid := func(trKey, trValue string) error {
-		msgids[trKey] = struct{}{}
-		return nil
-	}
 
 	localeFile := filepath.Join(filepath.Join("options", "locale"), "locale_en-US.ini")
 	localeContent, err := os.ReadFile(localeFile)
@@ -312,7 +308,10 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(2)
 	}
 
-	if err = locale.IterateMessagesContent(localeContent, onMsgid); err != nil {
+	if err = localeiter.IterateMessagesContent(localeContent, func(trKey, trValue string) error {
+		msgids[trKey] = struct{}{}
+		return nil
+	}); err != nil {
 		fmt.Printf("%s:\tERROR: %s\n", localeFile, err.Error())
 		os.Exit(2)
 	}
@@ -324,7 +323,11 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(2)
 	}
 
-	if err := locale.IterateMessagesNextContent(localeContent, onMsgid); err != nil {
+	if err := localeiter.IterateMessagesNextContent(localeContent, func(trKey, pluralForm, trValue string) error {
+		// ignore plural form
+		msgids[trKey] = struct{}{}
+		return nil
+	}); err != nil {
 		fmt.Printf("%s:\tERROR: %s\n", localeFile, err.Error())
 		os.Exit(2)
 	}
diff --git a/build/lint-locale/lint-locale.go b/build/lint-locale/lint-locale.go
index 94ce941e62..0d80ffa4b0 100644
--- a/build/lint-locale/lint-locale.go
+++ b/build/lint-locale/lint-locale.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"slices"
 	"strings"
 
-	"forgejo.org/modules/locale"
+	"forgejo.org/modules/translation/localeiter"
 
 	"github.com/microcosm-cc/bluemonday"
 	"github.com/sergi/go-diff/diffmatchpatch"
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func checkValue(trKey, value string) []string {
 func checkLocaleContent(localeContent []byte) []string {
 	errors := []string{}
 
-	if err := locale.IterateMessagesContent(localeContent, func(trKey, trValue string) error {
+	if err := localeiter.IterateMessagesContent(localeContent, func(trKey, trValue string) error {
 		errors = append(errors, checkValue(trKey, trValue)...)
 		return nil
 	}); err != nil {
@@ -113,8 +113,12 @@ func checkLocaleContent(localeContent []byte) []string {
 func checkLocaleNextContent(localeContent []byte) []string {
 	errors := []string{}
 
-	if err := locale.IterateMessagesNextContent(localeContent, func(trKey, trValue string) error {
-		errors = append(errors, checkValue(trKey, trValue)...)
+	if err := localeiter.IterateMessagesNextContent(localeContent, func(trKey, pluralForm, trValue string) error {
+		fullKey := trKey
+		if pluralForm != "" {
+			fullKey = trKey + "." + pluralForm
+		}
+		errors = append(errors, checkValue(fullKey, trValue)...)
 		return nil
 	}); err != nil {
 		panic(err)
diff --git a/build/lint-locale/lint-locale_test.go b/build/lint-locale/lint-locale_test.go
index 37407461c7..d481a80e37 100644
--- a/build/lint-locale/lint-locale_test.go
+++ b/build/lint-locale/lint-locale_test.go
@@ -91,4 +91,16 @@ func TestNextLocalizationPolicy(t *testing.T) {
 			"settings.hidden_comment_types_description": "\"<not-an-allowed-key> <label>\""
 		}`)))
 	})
+
+	t.Run("Plural form", func(t *testing.T) {
+		assert.Equal(t, []string{"repo.pulls.title_desc: key = \x1b[31m<a href=\"https://example.com\">\x1b[0m"}, checkLocaleNextContent([]byte(`{"repo.pulls.title_desc": {
+                       "few": "key = <a href=\"%s\">",
+                       "other": "key = <a href=\"https://example.com\">"
+    }}`)))
+
+		assert.Equal(t, []string{"repo.pulls.title_desc.few: key = \x1b[31m<a href=\"https://example.com\">\x1b[0m"}, checkLocaleNextContent([]byte(`{"repo.pulls.title_desc": {
+                       "few": "key = <a href=\"https://example.com\">",
+                       "other": "key = <a href=\"%s\">"
+    }}`)))
+	})
 }
diff --git a/modules/translation/i18n/localestore.go b/modules/translation/i18n/localestore.go
index a9c1f440bc..bf98b7b5da 100644
--- a/modules/translation/i18n/localestore.go
+++ b/modules/translation/i18n/localestore.go
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ import (
 	"html/template"
 	"slices"
 
-	"forgejo.org/modules/json"
 	"forgejo.org/modules/log"
 	"forgejo.org/modules/setting"
+	"forgejo.org/modules/translation/localeiter"
 	"forgejo.org/modules/util"
 )
 
@@ -94,55 +94,20 @@ func (store *localeStore) AddLocaleByIni(langName, langDesc string, pluralRule P
 	return nil
 }
 
-func RecursivelyAddTranslationsFromJSON(locale *locale, object map[string]any, prefix string) error {
-	for key, value := range object {
-		var fullkey string
-		if prefix != "" {
-			fullkey = prefix + "." + key
-		} else {
-			fullkey = key
-		}
-
-		switch v := value.(type) {
-		case string:
-			// Check whether we are adding a plural form to the parent object, or a new nested JSON object.
-
-			switch key {
-			case "zero", "one", "two", "few", "many":
-				locale.newStyleMessages[prefix+PluralFormSeparator+key] = v
-			case "other":
-				locale.newStyleMessages[prefix] = v
-			default:
-				locale.newStyleMessages[fullkey] = v
-			}
-
-		case map[string]any:
-			err := RecursivelyAddTranslationsFromJSON(locale, v, fullkey)
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-
-		case nil:
-		default:
-			return fmt.Errorf("Unrecognized JSON value '%s'", value)
-		}
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
-
 func (store *localeStore) AddToLocaleFromJSON(langName string, source []byte) error {
 	locale, ok := store.localeMap[langName]
 	if !ok {
 		return ErrLocaleDoesNotExist
 	}
 
-	var result map[string]any
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(source, &result); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return RecursivelyAddTranslationsFromJSON(locale, result, "")
+	return localeiter.IterateMessagesNextContent(source, func(key, pluralForm, value string) error {
+		msgKey := key
+		if pluralForm != "" {
+			msgKey = key + PluralFormSeparator + pluralForm
+		}
+		locale.newStyleMessages[msgKey] = value
+		return nil
+	})
 }
 
 func (l *locale) LookupNewStyleMessage(trKey string) string {
diff --git a/modules/locale/utils.go b/modules/translation/localeiter/utils.go
similarity index 56%
rename from modules/locale/utils.go
rename to modules/translation/localeiter/utils.go
index 726dc92adc..669b816837 100644
--- a/modules/locale/utils.go
+++ b/modules/translation/localeiter/utils.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 // extracted from `/build/lint-locale.go`, `/build/lint-locale-usage.go`
 
-package locale
+package localeiter
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json" //nolint:depguard
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ func IterateMessagesContent(localeContent []byte, onMsgid func(string, string) e
 	for _, section := range cfg.Sections() {
 		for _, key := range section.Keys() {
 			var trKey string
+			// see https://codeberg.org/forgejo/discussions/issues/104
+			//     https://github.com/WeblateOrg/weblate/issues/10831
+			// for an explanation of why "common" is an alternative
 			if section.Name() == "" || section.Name() == "DEFAULT" || section.Name() == "common" {
 				trKey = key.Name()
 			} else {
@@ -41,34 +44,51 @@ func IterateMessagesContent(localeContent []byte, onMsgid func(string, string) e
 	return nil
 }
 
-func iterateMessagesNextInner(onMsgid func(string, string) error, data map[string]any, trKey ...string) error {
+func iterateMessagesNextInner(onMsgid func(string, string, string) error, data map[string]any, trKey string) error {
 	for key, value := range data {
-		currentKey := key
-		if len(trKey) == 1 {
-			currentKey = trKey[0] + "." + key
+		fullKey := key
+		if trKey != "" {
+			fullKey = trKey + "." + key
 		}
-
 		switch value := value.(type) {
 		case string:
-			if err := onMsgid(currentKey, value); err != nil {
+			// Check whether we are adding a plural form to the parent object, or a new nested JSON object.
+			realKey := trKey
+			pluralSuffix := ""
+
+			switch key {
+			case "zero", "one", "two", "few", "many":
+				pluralSuffix = key
+			case "other":
+				// do nothing
+			default:
+				realKey = fullKey
+			}
+
+			if err := onMsgid(realKey, pluralSuffix, value); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
+
 		case map[string]any:
-			if err := iterateMessagesNextInner(onMsgid, value, currentKey); err != nil {
+			if err := iterateMessagesNextInner(onMsgid, value, fullKey); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
+
+		case nil:
+			// do nothing
+
 		default:
-			return fmt.Errorf("unexpected type: %s - %T", currentKey, value)
+			return fmt.Errorf("Unexpected JSON type: %s - %T", fullKey, value)
 		}
 	}
 
 	return nil
 }
 
-func IterateMessagesNextContent(localeContent []byte, onMsgid func(string, string) error) error {
+func IterateMessagesNextContent(localeContent []byte, onMsgid func(string, string, string) error) error {
 	var localeData map[string]any
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(localeContent, &localeData); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	return iterateMessagesNextInner(onMsgid, localeData)
+	return iterateMessagesNextInner(onMsgid, localeData, "")
 }