diff --git a/src/Logic/Web/Wikidata.ts b/src/Logic/Web/Wikidata.ts
index 56a35fda6..2f5fc2cbc 100644
--- a/src/Logic/Web/Wikidata.ts
+++ b/src/Logic/Web/Wikidata.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { Utils } from "../../Utils"
 import { Store, UIEventSource } from "../UIEventSource"
-import { WBK } from "wikibase-sdk"
+import { SimplifiedClaims, WBK } from "wikibase-sdk"
 
 export class WikidataResponse {
     public readonly id: string
@@ -54,14 +54,13 @@ export class WikidataResponse {
     }
 
     static extractClaims(claimsJson: any): Map<string, Set<string>> {
-        // @ts-ignore
-        const simplified = Wikidata.wds.simplify.claims(claimsJson, {
+        const simplified: SimplifiedClaims = Wikidata.wds.simplify.claims(claimsJson, {
             timeConverter: "simple-day",
         })
 
         const claims = new Map<string, Set<string>>()
         for (const claimId in simplified) {
-            const claimsList: any[] = simplified[claimId]
+            const claimsList = simplified[claimId]
             claims.set(claimId, new Set(claimsList))
         }
         return claims
@@ -439,6 +438,9 @@ export default class Wikidata {
             return new WikidataLexeme(response).asWikidataResponse()
         }
 
-        return WikidataResponse.fromJson(response)
+        const resp: WikidataResponse = WikidataResponse.fromJson(response)
+        // 'mul' is the fallback language for wikidata, see https://source.mapcomplete.org/MapComplete/MapComplete/issues/2346
+        resp.labels.set("*", resp.labels.get("mul"))
+        return resp
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/UI/i18n/Translation.ts b/src/UI/i18n/Translation.ts
index 92df461c8..bdbfbbb60 100644
--- a/src/UI/i18n/Translation.ts
+++ b/src/UI/i18n/Translation.ts
@@ -165,16 +165,17 @@ export class Translation extends BaseUIElement {
      * Which language will be effectively used for the given language of choice?
      */
     public actualLanguage(language: string): "*" | string | undefined {
-        if (this.translations["*"]) {
-            return "*"
-        }
+
         const txt = this.translations[language]
-        if (txt === undefined && this._strictLanguages) {
-            return undefined
-        }
         if (txt !== undefined) {
             return language
         }
+        if (this._strictLanguages) {
+            return undefined
+        }
+        if (this.translations["*"]) {
+            return "*"
+        }
         if (this.translations["en"] !== undefined) {
             return "en"
         }