diff --git a/webpack.config.js b/webpack.config.js
index 629e4db2a..c3d85caf7 100644
--- a/webpack.config.js
+++ b/webpack.config.js
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin');
 let og_image_url = process.env.RIOT_OG_IMAGE_URL;
 if (!og_image_url) og_image_url = 'https://riot.im/app/themes/riot/img/logos/riot-im-logo-black-text.png';
 
+// relative to languageHandler.js in matrix-react-sdk
+let RIOT_LANGUAGES_FILE = process.env.RIOT_LANGUAGES_FILE;
+if (!RIOT_LANGUAGES_FILE) {
+    RIOT_LANGUAGES_FILE = "../../riot-web/webapp/i18n/languages.json";
+}
+
 module.exports = {
     entry: {
         // Load babel-polyfill first to avoid issues where some imports (namely react)
@@ -162,7 +168,7 @@ module.exports = {
             'process.env': {
                 NODE_ENV: JSON.stringify(process.env.NODE_ENV),
             },
-            'LANGUAGES_FILE': "'../../riot-web/webapp/i18n/languages.json'",    // relative to languageHandler.js in matrix-react-sdk
+            'LANGUAGES_FILE': JSON.stringify(RIOT_LANGUAGES_FILE),
         }),
         new ExtractTextPlugin("bundles/[hash]/[name].css", {
             allChunks: true,