diff --git a/app/services/discourse_translator/base.rb b/app/services/discourse_translator/base.rb
index 8a1eaff3..187f8b38 100644
--- a/app/services/discourse_translator/base.rb
+++ b/app/services/discourse_translator/base.rb
@@ -88,7 +88,9 @@ def self.get_detected_locale(translatable)
     end
 
     def self.save_detected_locale(translatable)
-      detected_locale = yield
+      # sometimes we may have a user post that is just an emoji
+      # in that case, we will just indicate the post is in the default locale
+      detected_locale = yield.presence || SiteSetting.default_locale
       translatable.set_detected_locale(detected_locale)
 
       detected_locale
diff --git a/spec/services/base_spec.rb b/spec/services/base_spec.rb
index 0f224ddd..22785d93 100644
--- a/spec/services/base_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/base_spec.rb
@@ -115,6 +115,14 @@ class EmptyTranslator < DiscourseTranslator::Base
       expect(TestTranslator.detect(post)).to eq("en")
     end
 
+    it "saves the site default locale when detection is empty" do
+      SiteSetting.default_locale = "ja"
+
+      TestTranslator.save_detected_locale(post) { "" }
+
+      expect(post.detected_locale).to eq("ja")
+    end
+
     it "performs detection if no cached result" do
       TestTranslator.expects(:detect!).with(post).returns("es")