diff --git a/docs/ref/settings.txt b/docs/ref/settings.txt
index 783af7c5ffe..64f269a553c 100644
--- a/docs/ref/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/settings.txt
@@ -1228,8 +1228,22 @@ LANGUAGE_CODE
 Default: ``'en-us'``
 
 A string representing the language code for this installation. This should be in
-standard :term:`language format<language code>`. For example, U.S. English is
-``"en-us"``. See :doc:`/topics/i18n/index`.
+standard :term:`language ID format <language code>`. For example, U.S. English
+is ``"en-us"``. See also the `list of language identifiers`_ and
+:doc:`/topics/i18n/index`.
+
+:setting:`USE_I18N` must be active to this setting to have any effect.
+
+it serves two purposes:
+
+* If the locale middleware isn't in use, it decides which translation is served
+  to all users.
+* If the locale middleware is active, it provides the fallback translation when
+  no translation exist for a given literal to the user preferred language.
+
+See :ref:`how-django-discovers-language-preference` for more details.
+
+.. _list of language identifiers: http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/language-identifiers.html
 
 .. setting:: LANGUAGE_COOKIE_NAME
 
diff --git a/docs/topics/i18n/translation.txt b/docs/topics/i18n/translation.txt
index 446c313ef66..9c6d6a64c26 100644
--- a/docs/topics/i18n/translation.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/i18n/translation.txt
@@ -1515,14 +1515,17 @@ should be used -- installation-wide, for a particular user, or both.
 
 To set an installation-wide language preference, set :setting:`LANGUAGE_CODE`.
 Django uses this language as the default translation -- the final attempt if no
-other translator finds a translation.
+better matching translation is found by one of the methods employed by the
+locale middleware (see below).
 
-If all you want to do is run Django with your native language, and a language
-file is available for it, all you need to do is set :setting:`LANGUAGE_CODE`.
+If all you want to do is run Django with your native language all you need to do
+is set :setting:`LANGUAGE_CODE` and make sure the corresponding :term:`message
+files <message file>` and their compiled versions (``.mo``) exist.
 
 If you want to let each individual user specify which language he or she
-prefers, use ``LocaleMiddleware``. ``LocaleMiddleware`` enables language
-selection based on data from the request. It customizes content for each user.
+prefers, the you also need to use use the ``LocaleMiddleware``.
+``LocaleMiddleware`` enables language selection based on data from the request.
+It customizes content for each user.
 
 To use ``LocaleMiddleware``, add ``'django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware'``
 to your :setting:`MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES` setting. Because middleware order