diff --git a/components/translation/translation.cpp b/components/translation/translation.cpp
index 423c3971a0..976ae926d0 100644
--- a/components/translation/translation.cpp
+++ b/components/translation/translation.cpp
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ namespace Translation
             boost::filesystem::ifstream stream (
                 dataFileCollections.getCollection (extension).getPath (fileName));
 
+            // Configure the stream to throw exception upon error
+            stream.exceptions ( boost::filesystem::ifstream::failbit | boost::filesystem::ifstream::badbit );
+
             if (!stream.is_open())
                 throw std::runtime_error ("failed to open translation file: " + fileName);
 
@@ -41,6 +44,7 @@ namespace Translation
 
     void Storage::loadDataFromStream(ContainerType& container, std::istream& stream)
     {
+        // NOTE: does not handle failbit/badbit. stream must be set up beforehand to throw in these cases.
         std::string line;
         while (!stream.eof())
         {