diff --git a/plugins/builtin/romfs/lang/languages.json b/plugins/builtin/romfs/lang/languages.json
index 389b02bd3..ffc0fd880 100644
--- a/plugins/builtin/romfs/lang/languages.json
+++ b/plugins/builtin/romfs/lang/languages.json
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
         "name": "Italian",
         "code": "it-IT",
         "native_name": "Italiano",
-        "path": "lang/it_IT.json",
+        "git ch": "lang/it_IT.json",
         "fallback": "en-US"
     },
     {
diff --git a/tests/check_langs.py b/tests/check_langs.py
index f351fb248..e8ba83c3e 100644
--- a/tests/check_langs.py
+++ b/tests/check_langs.py
@@ -7,14 +7,16 @@ import sys
 SHOW_UNUSED_LANGS = "--unused" in sys.argv
 
 # use a regex on code to get all "hex.lang.id"_lang occurences
-def get_lang_occurences_in_code(path):
+def get_lang_occurrences_in_code(path):
     for dir, _, files in os.walk(path):
         for file in files:
 
             if not os.path.splitext(file)[1] in (".cpp", ".c", ".hpp", ".h"):
                 continue
+
             filepath = os.path.join(dir, file)
-            with open(filepath) as file:
+
+            with open(filepath, encoding="utf8") as file:
                 for line_num, line in enumerate(file):
                     for m in re.finditer('"([^"]*?)"_lang', line):
                         yield (filepath, line_num+1, m.group(1))
@@ -27,7 +29,7 @@ def get_langs(filepath) -> list[str]:
         print(f"Warning: no langs file found at {filepath}")
         return []
 
-    with open(filepath, "r") as file:
+    with open(filepath, "r", encoding="utf8") as file:
         data = json.loads(file.read())
         existing_langs = []
 
@@ -37,13 +39,13 @@ def get_langs(filepath) -> list[str]:
         return existing_langs
 
 def check_langs(code_path, bonus_langs, specific_langs_path):
-    print(f"\n--- Checking langs at {code_path}")
+    print(f"--- Checking langs at {code_path}")
  
     specific_langs = get_langs(specific_langs_path)
     unused_langs = specific_langs.copy()
     ret = True
 
-    for filepath, line, match in get_lang_occurences_in_code(code_path):
+    for filepath, line, match in get_lang_occurrences_in_code(code_path):
         try:
             unused_langs.remove(match)
         except ValueError:
@@ -59,6 +61,31 @@ def check_langs(code_path, bonus_langs, specific_langs_path):
             print(unused_lang)
     return ret
 
+def check_languages_exist(languages_file_path: str):
+    languages_folder = os.path.dirname(languages_file_path)
+    if not os.path.exists(languages_folder):
+        return True
+
+    if not os.path.exists(languages_file_path):
+        print(f"Error: Languages file '{languages_file_path}' does not exist.")
+        return False
+    with open(languages_file_path, "r", encoding="utf8") as file:
+        try:
+            data = json.load(file)
+            if not isinstance(data, list):
+                print(f"Error: Languages file '{languages_file_path}' is not a valid JSON object.")
+                return False
+
+            for lang in data:
+                if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(languages_folder, "..", lang['path'])):
+                    print(f"Error: Language file '{lang['path']}' does not exist in '{languages_folder}'.")
+                    return False
+            return True
+
+        except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
+            print(f"Error: Languages file '{languages_file_path}' is not a valid JSON file. {e}")
+            return False
+
 
 ui_langs = get_langs("./plugins/ui/romfs/lang/en_US.json")
 
@@ -72,5 +99,6 @@ for plugin in os.listdir("./plugins"):
     if not os.path.isdir(path): continue
 
     exit_ok &= check_langs(path, ui_langs, f"./plugins/{plugin}/romfs/lang/en_US.json")
+    exit_ok &= check_languages_exist(f"./plugins/{plugin}/romfs/lang/languages.json")
 
 sys.exit(0 if exit_ok else 1)