diff --git a/app/helpers/language_links_helper.rb b/app/helpers/language_links_helper.rb
index 1aee4ece5..a8c70a03c 100644
--- a/app/helpers/language_links_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/language_links_helper.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 module LanguageLinksHelper
   def language_link_tag(language_plus_code)
     language = language_plus_code.split(':').first
-    code = language_plus_code.split(':').second
+    code = language_plus_code.split(':').second.strip!
 
     link_to_unless(@current_lang == code, language, "?translate=#{code}", lang: code, class: 'notranslate button-small') do |language_text|
       content_tag(:a, language_text, lang: code, class: 'translate-active button-small')
diff --git a/app/views/component/search/_languages.html.haml b/app/views/component/search/_languages.html.haml
index cd3baafef..d06c14ee5 100644
--- a/app/views/component/search/_languages.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/component/search/_languages.html.haml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-%section#language-box
-  %ul
-    - SETTINGS[:language_links].each do |language_plus_code|
-      %li
-        = language_link_tag language_plus_code
+- if SETTINGS[:language_links].present?
+  %section#language-box
+    %ul
+      - SETTINGS[:language_links].each do |language_plus_code|
+        %li
+          = language_link_tag language_plus_code
diff --git a/config/settings.yml b/config/settings.yml
index 5833374a4..1686bbd7e 100644
--- a/config/settings.yml
+++ b/config/settings.yml
@@ -211,26 +211,27 @@ info_box_terms:
 
 ###################################################################
 #
-#                LANGUAGE LINKS SETTINGS
+# LANGUAGE TRANSLATION LINKS SETTINGS
 #
 ###################################################################
 
-# This represents the 6 most common languages in your community.
+# This represents the most common languages in your community.
 # The languages will appear at the top of the home page, and
 # clicking on each language will translate the text on the entire
 # site into that language using Google Translate.
-# The format should be 'Language:code', as shown below.
+# The format should be 'Language: code', as shown below.
 # To see a list of all supported languages and codes, read the
 # "Language reference" section in the Google Translate documentation:
-# https://developers.google.com/translate/v2/using_rest
-
+# https://developers.google.com/translate/v2/using_rest#language-params
+# If you do not wish to include any language translation links,
+# comment out or delete all of the language settings shown.
 language_links:
-  - 'English:en'
-  - 'Español:es'
-  - 'Tagalog:tl'
-  - '中文:zh-CN'
-  - 'العربية:ar'
-  - 'Русский:ru'
+  - 'English: en'
+  - 'Español: es'
+  - 'Tagalog: tl'
+  - '中文: zh-CN'
+  - 'العربية: ar'
+  - 'Русский: ru'
 
 ######################
 #
@@ -306,11 +307,11 @@ test:
       custom: component/info_box/example_custom_template
 
   language_links:
-    - 'English:en'
-    - 'Español:es'
-    - 'Tagalog:tl'
-    - '中文:zh-CN'
-    - 'العربية:ar'
-    - 'Русский:ru'
+    - 'English: en'
+    - 'Español: es'
+    - 'Tagalog: tl'
+    - '中文: zh-CN'
+    - 'العربية: ar'
+    - 'Русский: ru'
 
   site_title: Ohana Web Search