diff --git a/test/api/unit/libs/language.test.js b/test/api/unit/libs/language.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ec2df2ced2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/api/unit/libs/language.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+import {
+  getLanguageFromBrowser,
+  getLanguageFromUser,
+} from '../../../../website/server/libs/language';
+import {
+  generateReq,
+} from '../../../helpers/api-unit.helper';
+
+describe('language lib', () => {
+  let req;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    req = generateReq();
+  });
+
+  describe('getLanguageFromUser', () => {
+    it('uses the user preferred language if avalaible', () => {
+      const user = {
+        preferences: {
+          language: 'it',
+        },
+      };
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromUser(user, req)).to.equal('it');
+    });
+
+    it('falls back to english if the user preferred language is not avalaible', () => {
+      const user = {
+        preferences: {
+          language: 'bla',
+        },
+      };
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromUser(user, req)).to.equal('en');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('getLanguageFromBrowser', () => {
+    it('uses browser specificed language', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'pt';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('pt');
+    });
+
+    it('uses first language in series if browser specifies multiple', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'he, pt, it';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('he');
+    });
+
+    it('skips invalid lanaguages and uses first language in series if browser specifies multiple', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'blah, he, pt, it';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('he');
+    });
+
+    it('uses normal version of language if specialized locale is passed in', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'fr-CA';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('fr');
+    });
+
+    it('uses normal version of language if specialized locale is passed in', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'fr-CA';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('fr');
+    });
+
+    it('uses es if es is passed in', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'es';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('es');
+    });
+
+    it('uses es_419 if applicable es-languages are passed in', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'es-mx';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('es_419');
+    });
+
+    it('uses es_419 if multiple es languages are passed in', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'es-GT, es-MX, es-CR';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('es_419');
+    });
+
+    it('zh', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'zh-TW';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('zh_TW');
+    });
+
+    it('uses english if browser specified language is not compatible', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = 'blah';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('en');
+    });
+
+    it('uses english if browser does not specify', () => {
+      req.headers['accept-language'] = '';
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('en');
+    });
+
+    it('uses english if browser does not supply an accept-language header', () => {
+      delete req.headers['accept-language'];
+
+      expect(getLanguageFromBrowser(req)).to.equal('en');
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/api/unit/middlewares/analytics.test.js b/test/api/unit/middlewares/analytics.test.js
index 32b88d00b8..8ce68aee73 100644
--- a/test/api/unit/middlewares/analytics.test.js
+++ b/test/api/unit/middlewares/analytics.test.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ describe('analytics middleware', () => {
     next = generateNext();
   });
 
-  it('attaches analytics object res.locals', () => {
+  it('attaches analytics object to res', () => {
     const attachAnalytics = requireAgain(pathToAnalyticsMiddleware).default;
 
     attachAnalytics(req, res, next);
diff --git a/test/api/unit/middlewares/cronMiddleware.js b/test/api/unit/middlewares/cronMiddleware.js
index bd93b06e65..873bbb70a7 100644
--- a/test/api/unit/middlewares/cronMiddleware.js
+++ b/test/api/unit/middlewares/cronMiddleware.js
@@ -21,28 +21,11 @@ describe('cron middleware', () => {
     req;
   let user;
 
-  beforeEach(done => {
+  beforeEach(async () => {
     res = generateRes();
     req = generateReq();
-    user = new User({
-      auth: {
-        local: {
-          username: 'username',
-          lowerCaseUsername: 'username',
-          email: 'email@email.email',
-          salt: 'salt',
-          hashed_password: 'hashed_password', // eslint-disable-line camelcase
-        },
-      },
-    });
-
-    user.save()
-      .then(savedUser => {
-        res.locals.user = savedUser;
-        res.analytics = analyticsService;
-        done();
-      })
-      .catch(done);
+    user = await res.locals.user.save();
+    res.analytics = analyticsService;
   });
 
   afterEach(() => {
diff --git a/test/api/unit/middlewares/language.test.js b/test/api/unit/middlewares/language.test.js
index 4965da9a49..8aad89e714 100644
--- a/test/api/unit/middlewares/language.test.js
+++ b/test/api/unit/middlewares/language.test.js
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ import { model as User } from '../../../../website/server/models/user';
 
 const { i18n } = common;
 
+// TODO some of the checks here can be simplified to simply check
+// that the right parameters are passed to the functions in libs/language
+
 describe('language middleware', () => {
   describe('res.t', () => {
     let res; let req; let
@@ -19,6 +22,8 @@ describe('language middleware', () => {
 
     beforeEach(() => {
       res = generateRes();
+      // remove the defaul user
+      res.locals.user = undefined;
       req = generateReq();
       next = generateNext();
 
@@ -57,6 +62,8 @@ describe('language middleware', () => {
 
     beforeEach(() => {
       res = generateRes();
+      // remove the defaul user
+      res.locals.user = undefined;
       req = generateReq();
       next = generateNext();
       attachTranslateFunction(req, res, next);
@@ -88,7 +95,7 @@ describe('language middleware', () => {
           lang: 'es',
         };
 
-        req.locals = {
+        res.locals = {
           user: {
             preferences: {
               language: 'it',
@@ -108,7 +115,7 @@ describe('language middleware', () => {
 
     context('authorized request', () => {
       it('uses the user preferred language if avalaible', () => {
-        req.locals = {
+        res.locals = {
           user: {
             preferences: {
               language: 'it',
@@ -122,7 +129,7 @@ describe('language middleware', () => {
       });
 
       it('falls back to english if the user preferred language is not avalaible', done => {
-        req.locals = {
+        res.locals = {
           user: {
             preferences: {
               language: 'bla',
@@ -138,7 +145,7 @@ describe('language middleware', () => {
       });
 
       it('uses the user preferred language even if a session is included in request', () => {
-        req.locals = {
+        res.locals = {
           user: {
             preferences: {
               language: 'it',
diff --git a/website/client/src/app.vue b/website/client/src/app.vue
index 5b386e7a7f..ff1a6ec44b 100644
--- a/website/client/src/app.vue
+++ b/website/client/src/app.vue
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
         'resting': showRestingBanner
       }"
     >
-      <banned-account-modal />
+      <!-- <banned-account-modal /> -->
       <amazon-payments-modal v-if="!isStaticPage" />
       <payments-success-modal />
       <sub-cancel-modal-confirm v-if="isUserLoaded" />
@@ -266,7 +266,6 @@ import {
 } from '@/libs/userlocalManager';
 
 import svgClose from '@/assets/svg/close.svg';
-import bannedAccountModal from '@/components/bannedAccountModal';
 
 const COMMUNITY_MANAGER_EMAIL = process.env.EMAILS_COMMUNITY_MANAGER_EMAIL; // eslint-disable-line
 
@@ -281,7 +280,6 @@ export default {
     BuyModal,
     SelectMembersModal,
     amazonPaymentsModal,
-    bannedAccountModal,
     paymentsSuccessModal,
     subCancelModalConfirm,
     subCanceledModal,
@@ -385,7 +383,8 @@ export default {
       return response;
     }, error => {
       if (error.response.status >= 400) {
-        this.checkForBannedUser(error);
+        const isBanned = this.checkForBannedUser(error);
+        if (isBanned === true) return null; // eslint-disable-line consistent-return
 
         // Don't show errors from getting user details. These users have delete their account,
         // but their chat message still exists.
@@ -403,7 +402,8 @@ export default {
         // TODO use a specific error like NotificationNotFound instead of checking for the string
         const invalidUserMessage = [this.$t('invalidCredentials'), 'Missing authentication headers.'];
         if (invalidUserMessage.indexOf(errorMessage) !== -1) {
-          this.$store.dispatch('auth:logout');
+          this.$store.dispatch('auth:logout', { redirectToLogin: true });
+          return null;
         }
 
         // Most server errors should return is click to dismiss errors, with some exceptions
@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@ export default {
 
       // Case where user is not logged in
       if (!parseSettings) {
-        return;
+        return false;
       }
 
       const bannedMessage = this.$t('accountSuspended', {
@@ -561,9 +561,10 @@ export default {
         userId: parseSettings.auth.apiId,
       });
 
-      if (errorMessage !== bannedMessage) return;
+      if (errorMessage !== bannedMessage) return false;
 
-      this.$root.$emit('bv::show::modal', 'banned-account');
+      this.$store.dispatch('auth:logout', { redirectToLogin: true });
+      return true;
     },
     initializeModalStack () {
       // Manage modals
diff --git a/website/client/src/store/actions/auth.js b/website/client/src/store/actions/auth.js
index af909201b8..8d80da0ecd 100644
--- a/website/client/src/store/actions/auth.js
+++ b/website/client/src/store/actions/auth.js
@@ -82,7 +82,8 @@ export async function socialAuth (store, params) {
   localStorage.setItem(LOCALSTORAGE_AUTH_KEY, userLocalData);
 }
 
-export function logout () {
+export function logout (store, options = {}) {
   localStorage.clear();
-  window.location.href = '/logout-server';
+  const query = options.redirectToLogin === true ? '?redirectToLogin=true' : '';
+  window.location.href = `/logout-server${query}`;
 }
diff --git a/website/server/controllers/top-level/auth.js b/website/server/controllers/top-level/auth.js
index ae8e08b87f..2d469960fe 100644
--- a/website/server/controllers/top-level/auth.js
+++ b/website/server/controllers/top-level/auth.js
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@ api.logout = {
   async handler (req, res) {
     if (req.logout) req.logout(); // passportjs method
     req.session = null;
-    res.redirect('/');
+
+    const redirectUrl = req.query.redirectToLogin === 'true' ? '/login' : '/';
+    res.redirect(redirectUrl);
   },
 };
 
diff --git a/website/server/libs/i18n.js b/website/server/libs/i18n.js
index 85f8c14880..7fd6069014 100644
--- a/website/server/libs/i18n.js
+++ b/website/server/libs/i18n.js
@@ -22,34 +22,10 @@ const momentLangsMapping = {
 };
 
 export const approvedLanguages = [
-  'bg',
-  'cs',
-  'da',
-  'de',
-  'en',
-  'en_GB',
-  'en@pirate',
-  'es',
-  'es_419',
-  'fr',
-  'he',
-  'hu',
-  'id',
-  'it',
-  'ja',
-  'nl',
-  'pl',
-  'pt',
-  'pt_BR',
-  'ro',
-  'ru',
-  'sk',
-  'sr',
-  'sv',
-  'tr',
-  'uk',
-  'zh',
-  'zh_TW',
+  'bg', 'cs', 'da', 'de', 'en', 'en_GB', 'en@pirate',
+  'es', 'es_419', 'fr', 'he', 'hu', 'id', 'it',
+  'ja', 'nl', 'pl', 'pt', 'pt_BR', 'ro', 'ru', 'sk',
+  'sr', 'sv', 'tr', 'uk', 'zh', 'zh_TW',
 ];
 
 function _loadTranslations (locale) {
diff --git a/website/server/libs/language.js b/website/server/libs/language.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..639698b25d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/website/server/libs/language.js
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import accepts from 'accepts';
+import _ from 'lodash';
+import {
+  translations,
+  defaultLangCodes,
+  multipleVersionsLanguages,
+} from './i18n';
+
+function getUniqueListOfLanguages (languages) {
+  const acceptableLanguages = _(languages).map(lang => lang.slice(0, 2)).uniq().value();
+
+  const uniqueListOfLanguages = _.intersection(acceptableLanguages, defaultLangCodes);
+
+  return uniqueListOfLanguages;
+}
+
+function checkForApplicableLanguageVariant (originalLanguageOptions) {
+  const languageVariant = _.find(originalLanguageOptions, accepted => {
+    const trimmedAccepted = accepted.slice(0, 2);
+
+    return multipleVersionsLanguages[trimmedAccepted];
+  });
+
+  return languageVariant;
+}
+
+export function getLanguageFromBrowser (req) {
+  const originalLanguageOptions = accepts(req).languages();
+  const uniqueListOfLanguages = getUniqueListOfLanguages(originalLanguageOptions);
+  const baseLanguage = (uniqueListOfLanguages[0] || '').toLowerCase();
+  const languageMapping = multipleVersionsLanguages[baseLanguage];
+
+  if (languageMapping) {
+    let languageVariant = checkForApplicableLanguageVariant(originalLanguageOptions);
+
+    if (languageVariant) {
+      languageVariant = languageVariant.toLowerCase();
+    } else {
+      return 'en';
+    }
+
+    return languageMapping[languageVariant] || baseLanguage;
+  }
+  return baseLanguage || 'en';
+}
+
+export function getLanguageFromUser (user, req) {
+  const preferredLang = user && user.preferences && user.preferences.language;
+  const lang = translations[preferredLang] ? preferredLang : getLanguageFromBrowser(req);
+
+  return lang;
+}
diff --git a/website/server/middlewares/auth.js b/website/server/middlewares/auth.js
index b9f680db34..5527a0d0fb 100644
--- a/website/server/middlewares/auth.js
+++ b/website/server/middlewares/auth.js
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import {
   model as User,
 } from '../models/user';
 import gcpStackdriverTracer from '../libs/gcpTraceAgent';
+import common from '../../common';
+import { getLanguageFromUser } from '../libs/language';
 
 const COMMUNITY_MANAGER_EMAIL = nconf.get('EMAILS_COMMUNITY_MANAGER_EMAIL');
 const USER_FIELDS_ALWAYS_LOADED = ['_id', 'notifications', 'preferences', 'auth', 'flags'];
@@ -72,7 +74,17 @@ export function authWithHeaders (options = {}) {
       .exec()
       .then(user => {
         if (!user) throw new NotAuthorized(res.t('invalidCredentials'));
-        if (user.auth.blocked) throw new NotAuthorized(res.t('accountSuspended', { communityManagerEmail: COMMUNITY_MANAGER_EMAIL, userId: user._id }));
+
+        if (user.auth.blocked) {
+          // We want the accountSuspended message to be translated but the language
+          // middleware hasn't run yet so we pick it manually
+          const language = getLanguageFromUser(user, req);
+
+          throw new NotAuthorized(common.i18n.t('accountSuspended', {
+            communityManagerEmail: COMMUNITY_MANAGER_EMAIL,
+            userId: user._id,
+          }, language));
+        }
 
         res.locals.user = user;
         req.session.userId = user._id;
diff --git a/website/server/middlewares/language.js b/website/server/middlewares/language.js
index 1c49130464..bb9bbacb0e 100644
--- a/website/server/middlewares/language.js
+++ b/website/server/middlewares/language.js
@@ -1,60 +1,15 @@
-import accepts from 'accepts';
-import _ from 'lodash';
 import { model as User } from '../models/user';
 import common from '../../common';
 import {
   translations,
-  defaultLangCodes,
-  multipleVersionsLanguages,
 } from '../libs/i18n';
+import {
+  getLanguageFromUser,
+  getLanguageFromBrowser,
+} from '../libs/language';
 
 const { i18n } = common;
 
-function _getUniqueListOfLanguages (languages) {
-  const acceptableLanguages = _(languages).map(lang => lang.slice(0, 2)).uniq().value();
-
-  const uniqueListOfLanguages = _.intersection(acceptableLanguages, defaultLangCodes);
-
-  return uniqueListOfLanguages;
-}
-
-function _checkForApplicableLanguageVariant (originalLanguageOptions) {
-  const languageVariant = _.find(originalLanguageOptions, accepted => {
-    const trimmedAccepted = accepted.slice(0, 2);
-
-    return multipleVersionsLanguages[trimmedAccepted];
-  });
-
-  return languageVariant;
-}
-
-function _getFromBrowser (req) {
-  const originalLanguageOptions = accepts(req).languages();
-  const uniqueListOfLanguages = _getUniqueListOfLanguages(originalLanguageOptions);
-  const baseLanguage = (uniqueListOfLanguages[0] || '').toLowerCase();
-  const languageMapping = multipleVersionsLanguages[baseLanguage];
-
-  if (languageMapping) {
-    let languageVariant = _checkForApplicableLanguageVariant(originalLanguageOptions);
-
-    if (languageVariant) {
-      languageVariant = languageVariant.toLowerCase();
-    } else {
-      return 'en';
-    }
-
-    return languageMapping[languageVariant] || baseLanguage;
-  }
-  return baseLanguage || 'en';
-}
-
-function _getFromUser (user, req) {
-  const preferredLang = user && user.preferences && user.preferences.language;
-  const lang = translations[preferredLang] ? preferredLang : _getFromBrowser(req);
-
-  return lang;
-}
-
 export function attachTranslateFunction (req, res, next) {
   res.t = function reqTranslation (...args) {
     return i18n.t(...args, req.language);
@@ -64,26 +19,33 @@ export function attachTranslateFunction (req, res, next) {
 }
 
 export function getUserLanguage (req, res, next) {
-  if (req.query.lang) { // In case the language is specified in the request url, use it
+  // In case the language is specified in the request url, use intersection
+  if (req.query.lang) {
     req.language = translations[req.query.lang] ? req.query.lang : 'en';
     return next();
+  }
 
   // If the request is authenticated, use the user's preferred language
-  } if (req.locals && req.locals.user) {
-    req.language = _getFromUser(req.locals.user, req);
+  if (res.locals && res.locals.user) {
+    req.language = getLanguageFromUser(res.locals.user, req);
     return next();
-  } if (req.session && req.session.userId) { // Same thing if the user has a valid session
+  }
+
+  // Same thing if the user has a valid session
+  if (req.session && req.session.userId) {
     return User.findOne({
       _id: req.session.userId,
     }, 'preferences.language')
       .lean()
       .exec()
       .then(user => {
-        req.language = _getFromUser(user, req);
+        req.language = getLanguageFromUser(user, req);
         return next();
       })
       .catch(next);
-  } // Otherwise get from browser
-  req.language = _getFromUser(null, req);
+  }
+
+  // Otherwise get from browser
+  req.language = getLanguageFromBrowser(req);
   return next();
 }