diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index 474d3bb4..ffaae5e1 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -35,13 +35,13 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
     if current_user.present? && current_user.banned?
       name = current_user.screen_name
       # obligatory '2001: A Space Odyssey' reference
-      flash[:notice] = "I'm sorry, #{name}, I'm afraid I can't do that."
+      flash[:notice] = t('flash.ban.error', name: name)
       unless current_user.ban_reason.nil?
-        flash[:notice] += "\nBan reason: #{current_user.ban_reason}"
+        flash[:notice] += "\n#{t('flash.ban.reason', reason: current_user.ban_reason)}"
       end
       if not current_user.permanently_banned?
         # TODO format banned_until
-        flash[:notice] += "\nBanned until: #{current_user.banned_until}"
+        flash[:notice] += "\n#{t('flash.ban.until', time: current_user.banned_until)}"
       end
       sign_out current_user
       redirect_to new_user_session_path
diff --git a/app/controllers/services_controller.rb b/app/controllers/services_controller.rb
index d49a55a5..376efc52 100644
--- a/app/controllers/services_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/services_controller.rb
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ class ServicesController < ApplicationController
     service = Service.initialize_from_omniauth( omniauth_hash )
 
     if current_user.services << service
-      flash[:success] = 'Successfully added service'
+      flash[:success] = t('flash.service.create.success')
     else
-      flash[:error] = 'Could not add service :('
+      flash[:error] = t('flash.service.create.error')
     end
 
     if origin
@@ -25,14 +25,14 @@ class ServicesController < ApplicationController
 
   def failure
     Rails.logger.info "oauth error: #{params.inspect}"
-    flash[:error] = 'An error occurred'
+    flash[:error] = t('flash.service.failure')
     redirect_to services_path
   end
 
   def destroy
     @service = current_user.services.find(params[:id])
     @service.destroy
-    flash[:success] = 'Successfully removed service'
+    flash[:success] = t('flash.service.destroy')
     redirect_to services_path
   end
 
diff --git a/app/controllers/user_controller.rb b/app/controllers/user_controller.rb
index a3d3f416..33cad9e1 100644
--- a/app/controllers/user_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/user_controller.rb
@@ -27,12 +27,12 @@ class UserController < ApplicationController
     user_attributes = params.require(:user).permit(:display_name, :profile_picture, :profile_header, :motivation_header, :website,
                                                    :location, :bio, :crop_x, :crop_y, :crop_w, :crop_h, :crop_h_x, :crop_h_y, :crop_h_w, :crop_h_h)
     if current_user.update_attributes(user_attributes)
-      text = 'Your profile has been updated!'
-      text += ' It might take a few minutes until your new profile picture is shown everywhere.' if user_attributes[:profile_picture]
-      text += ' It might take a few minutes until your new profile header is shown everywhere.' if user_attributes[:profile_header]
+      text = t('flash.user.update.text')
+      text += t('flash.user.update.avatar') if user_attributes[:profile_picture]
+      text += t('flash.user.update.header') if user_attributes[:profile_header]
       flash[:success] = text
     else
-      flash[:error] = 'An error occurred. ;_;'
+      flash[:error] = t('flash.user.update.error')
     end
     redirect_to edit_user_profile_path
   end
@@ -48,9 +48,9 @@ class UserController < ApplicationController
                                                    :privacy_allow_stranger_answers,
                                                    :privacy_show_in_search)
     if current_user.update_attributes(user_attributes)
-      flash[:success] = 'Your privacy settings have been updated!'
+      flash[:success] = t('flash.user.update_privacy.success')
     else
-      flash[:error] = 'An error occurred. ;_;'
+      flash[:error] = t('flash.user.update_privacy.error')
     end
     redirect_to edit_user_privacy_path
   end
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/_messages.html.haml b/app/views/layouts/_messages.html.haml
index 01a8e8de..73ba513d 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/_messages.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/layouts/_messages.html.haml
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 %noscript
   .alert.alert-danger
-    = t 'views.messages.noscript'
+    = t 'messages.noscript'
 
 - flash.each do |key, value|
   .alert.alert-dismissible{class: "alert-#{bootstrap_color key}", role: "alert"}
     %button.close{type: "button", "data-dismiss" => "alert"}
       %span{"aria-hidden" => "true"} &times;
-      %span.sr-only Close
+      %span.sr-only= t 'views.actions.close'
     = value
diff --git a/config/locales/en.yml b/config/locales/en.yml
index 8ebaabcc..df185fb9 100644
--- a/config/locales/en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/en.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,26 @@
 # available at http://guides.rubyonrails.org/i18n.html.
 
 en:
+  flash:
+    ban:
+      error: "I'm sorry, %{name}, I'm afraid I can't do that."
+      reason: "Ban reason: %{reason}"
+      until: "Banned until: %{time}"
+    service:
+      create:
+        success: "Successfully added service"
+        error: "Could not add service :("
+      failure: "An error occurred"
+      destroy: "Successfully removed service"
+    user:
+      update:
+        text: "Your profile has been updated!"
+        avatar: " It might take a few minutes until your new profile picture is shown everywhere."
+        header: " It might take a few minutes until your new profile header is shown everywhere."
+        error: "An error occurred. ;_;"
+      update_privacy:
+        success: "Your privacy settings have been updated!"
+        error: "An error occurred. ;_;"
   messages:
     noscript: "Please activate JavaScript."
     error: "An error occurred."