diff --git a/components/files/multidircollection.cpp b/components/files/multidircollection.cpp
index b44c42986..347de96a6 100644
--- a/components/files/multidircollection.cpp
+++ b/components/files/multidircollection.cpp
@@ -95,6 +95,11 @@ namespace Files
         return iter->second;
     }
 
+    bool MultiDirCollection::doesExist (const std::string& file) const
+    {
+        return mFiles.find (file)!=mFiles.end();
+    }
+
     MultiDirCollection::TIter MultiDirCollection::begin() const
     {
         return mFiles.begin();
diff --git a/components/files/multidircollection.hpp b/components/files/multidircollection.hpp
index e8abeb45d..3b420d677 100644
--- a/components/files/multidircollection.hpp
+++ b/components/files/multidircollection.hpp
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@ namespace Files
             /// If the file does not exist, an exception is thrown. \a file must include
             /// the extension.
 
+            bool doesExist (const std::string& file) const;
+            ///< \return Does a file with the given name exist?
+
             TIter begin() const;
             ///< Return iterator pointing to the first file.
 
diff --git a/components/translation/translation.cpp b/components/translation/translation.cpp
index feda76f6f..b559c6c1c 100644
--- a/components/translation/translation.cpp
+++ b/components/translation/translation.cpp
@@ -24,22 +24,18 @@ namespace Translation
                            const std::string& extension,
                            const Files::Collections& dataFileCollections)
     {
-        std::string path;
-        try
-        {
-            path = dataFileCollections.getCollection(extension).getPath(fileNameNoExtension + extension).string();
-        }
-        catch(...)
-        {
-            //no file
-            return;
-        }
+        std::string fileName = fileNameNoExtension + extension;
 
-        std::ifstream stream(path);
-        if (stream.is_open())
+        if (dataFileCollections.getCollection (extension).doesExist (fileName))
         {
+            std::string path = dataFileCollections.getCollection (extension).getPath (fileName).string();
+
+            std::ifstream stream (path);
+
+            if (!stream.is_open())
+                throw std::runtime_error ("failed to open translation file: " + fileName);
+
             loadDataFromStream(container, stream);
-            stream.close();
         }
     }