diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index ab0ee181..725e600d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
     "knex": "^0.95.12",
     "lodash": "^4.17.21",
     "luxon": "^2.0.2",
+    "node-fetch": "2",
     "pesa": "^1.1.3",
     "sqlite3": "npm:@vscode/sqlite3@^5.0.7",
     "vue": "^3.2.30",
diff --git a/src/getLanguageMap.js b/src/getLanguageMap.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b19d3250
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/getLanguageMap.js
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+/**
+ * Language files are fetched from the frappe/books repo
+ * the language files before storage have a ISO timestamp
+ * prepended to the file.
+ *
+ * This timestamp denotes the commit datetime, update of the file
+ * takes place only if a new update has been pushed.
+ */
+
+const fs = require('fs/promises');
+const path = require('path');
+const fetch = require('node-fetch');
+const { splitCsvLine } = require('../scripts/helpers');
+
+async function getLanguageMap(code, isDevelopment = false) {
+  const contents = await getContents(code, isDevelopment);
+  return getMapFromContents(contents);
+}
+
+async function getContents(code, isDevelopment) {
+  if (isDevelopment) {
+    const filePath = path.resolve('..', 'translations', `${code}.csv`);
+    return await fs.readFile(filePath);
+  }
+
+  let contents = await getContentsIfExists();
+  if (contents.length === 0) {
+    contents = await fetchAndStoreFile(code);
+  } else {
+    contents = await getUpdatedContent(code, contents);
+  }
+
+  return contents;
+}
+
+function getMapFromContents(contents) {
+  contents = contents.split('\n').slice(1);
+  return contents
+    .map(splitCsvLine)
+    .filter((l) => l.length >= 2)
+    .reduce((acc, l) => {
+      const key = l[0].slice(1, -1);
+      const translation = l[1].slice(1, -1);
+      acc[key] = { translation };
+
+      const context = l.slice(2);
+      if (context.length) {
+        acc.context = context;
+      }
+
+      return acc;
+    }, {});
+}
+
+await function getContentsIfExists(code) {
+  const filePath = getFilePath(code);
+  try {
+    return await fs.readFile(filePath, { encoding: 'utf-8' });
+  } catch (err) {
+    if (err.errno !== -2) {
+      throw err;
+    }
+
+    return '';
+  }
+};
+
+async function fetchAndStoreFile(code, date) {
+  const url = `https://api.github.com/repos/frappe/books/contents/translations/${code}.csv`;
+  const res = await fetch(url);
+  if (res.status !== 200) {
+    throwTranslationFileNotFound(code);
+  }
+
+  const resJson = await res.json();
+  let contents = Buffer.from(resJson.content, 'base64').toString();
+  contents = [date.toISOString(), contents].join('\n');
+
+  await storeFile(code, content);
+  return contents;
+}
+
+async function getUpdatedContent(code, contents) {
+  const [shouldUpdate, date] = await shouldUpdateFile(code, contents);
+  if (!shouldUpdate) {
+    return contents;
+  }
+
+  return await fetchAndStoreFile(code, date);
+}
+
+async function shouldUpdateFile(code, contents) {
+  const date = await getLastUpdated(code);
+  const oldDate = new Date(contents.split('\n')[0]);
+  return [date > oldDate, date];
+}
+
+async function getLastUpdated(code) {
+  const url = `https://api.github.com/repos/frappe/books/commits?path=translations%2F${code}.csv&page=1&per_page=1`;
+  let resJson;
+  resJson = await fetch(url).then((res) => res.json());
+
+  if (res.Json.length === 0) {
+    throwTranslationFileNotFound(code);
+  }
+
+  return new Date(resJson[0].commit.author.date);
+}
+
+function getFilePath(code) {
+  return path.resolve(process.resourcesPath, 'translations', `${code}.csv`);
+}
+
+function throwTranslationFileNotFound(code) {
+  throw new Error(`translation file not found for ${code}`);
+}
+
+async function storeFile(contents, code) {
+  const filePath = getFilePath(code);
+  await fs.writeFile(filePath, contents, { encoding: 'utf-8' });
+}
+
+module.exports = { getLanguageMap };
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 39a47ce0..4b9b9a91 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -7965,7 +7965,7 @@ node-emoji@^1.11.0:
   dependencies:
     lodash "^4.17.21"
 
-node-fetch@^2.6.1:
+node-fetch@2, node-fetch@^2.6.1:
   version "2.6.7"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/node-fetch/-/node-fetch-2.6.7.tgz#24de9fba827e3b4ae44dc8b20256a379160052ad"
   integrity sha512-ZjMPFEfVx5j+y2yF35Kzx5sF7kDzxuDj6ziH4FFbOp87zKDZNx8yExJIb05OGF4Nlt9IHFIMBkRl41VdvcNdbQ==