diff --git a/includes/language.inc b/includes/language.inc
index ec9c0f71969e92e4a6f61a1638fa331b7993eefd..2dc11e977c930a96ecf9f0bbea84e5b8352458b3 100644
--- a/includes/language.inc
+++ b/includes/language.inc
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ function language_negotiation_info() {
       'callbacks' => array('language' => 'language_from_default'),
       'weight' => 10,
       'name' => t('Default'),
-      'description' => t('The default site language (@language_name) is used.', array('@language_name' => language_default()->native)),
+      'description' => t('Use the default site language (@language_name).', array('@language_name' => language_default()->native)),
     );
 
     // Let other modules alter the list of language providers.
diff --git a/modules/locale/locale.admin.inc b/modules/locale/locale.admin.inc
index 9bb1803bcf541b9cf1590fc5c17319f27dc690b1..2226f5bef2446ac2f64b28d9ffa42ba7a2303ee9 100644
--- a/modules/locale/locale.admin.inc
+++ b/modules/locale/locale.admin.inc
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ function locale_languages_predefined_form($form) {
     '#title' => t('Language name'),
     '#default_value' => key($predefined),
     '#options' => $predefined,
-    '#description' => t('Select the desired language and click the <em>Add language</em> button. (Use the <em>Custom language</em> options if your desired language does not appear in this list.)'),
+    '#description' => t('Use the <em>Custom language</em> section below if your desired language does not appear in this list.'),
   );
   $form['language list']['actions'] = array('#type' => 'container', '#attributes' => array('class' => array('form-actions')));
   $form['language list']['actions']['submit'] = array('#type' => 'submit', '#value' => t('Add language'));
@@ -270,16 +270,16 @@ function _locale_languages_common_controls(&$form, $language = NULL) {
     '#description' => t('Name of the language in the language being added.'),
   );
   $form['prefix'] = array('#type' => 'textfield',
-    '#title' => t('Path prefix'),
+    '#title' => t('Path prefix language code'),
     '#maxlength' => 64,
     '#default_value' => @$language->prefix,
-    '#description' => t('Language code or other custom string for pattern matching within the path. With language negotiation set to <em>Path prefix only</em> or <em>Path prefix with language fallback</em>, this site is presented in this language when the Path prefix value matches an element in the path. For the default language, this value may be left blank. <strong>Modifying this value will break existing URLs and should be used with caution in a production environment.</strong> <em>Example: Specifying "deutsch" as the path prefix for German results in URLs in the form "www.example.com/deutsch/node".</em>')
+    '#description' => t('Language code or other custom text to use as a path prefix for URL language detection, if your <em>Detection and selection</em> settings use URL path prefixes. For the default language, this value may be left blank. <strong>Modifying this value may break existing URLs. Use with caution in a production environment.</strong> Example: Specifying "deutsch" as the path prefix code for German results in URLs like "example.com/deutsch/contact".')
   );
   $form['domain'] = array('#type' => 'textfield',
     '#title' => t('Language domain'),
     '#maxlength' => 128,
     '#default_value' => @$language->domain,
-    '#description' => t('Language-specific URL, with protocol. With language negotiation set to <em>Domain name only</em>, the site is presented in this language when the URL accessing the site references this domain. For the default language, this value may be left blank. <strong>This value must include a protocol as part of the string.</strong> <em>Example: Specifying "http://example.de" or "http://de.example.com" as language domains for German results in URLs in the forms "http://example.de/node" and "http://de.example.com/node", respectively.</em>'),
+    '#description' => t('URL <strong>including protocol</strong> to use for this language, if your <em>Detection and selection</em> settings use URL domains. For the default language, this value may be left blank. <strong>Modifying this value may break existing URLs. Use with caution in a production environment.</strong> Example: Specifying "http://example.de" or "http://de.example.com" as language domains for German results in URLs like "http://example.de/contact" and "http://de.example.com/contact", respectively.'),
   );
   $form['direction'] = array('#type' => 'radios',
     '#title' => t('Direction'),
@@ -504,7 +504,7 @@ function _locale_languages_configure_form_language_table(&$form, $type) {
   $info = $form['#language_types_info'][$type];
 
   $table_form = array(
-    '#title' => t('@type language', array('@type' => $info['name'])),
+    '#title' => t('@type', array('@type' => $info['name'])),
     '#tree' => TRUE,
     '#description' => $info['description'],
     '#language_providers' => array(),
@@ -690,13 +690,14 @@ function locale_language_providers_url_form() {
   $form = array();
 
   $form['locale_language_negotiation_url_part'] = array(
-    '#title' => t('The part of the URL that will determine the language.'),
+    '#title' => t('Part of the URL that determines language'),
     '#type' => 'radios',
     '#options' => array(
       LOCALE_LANGUAGE_NEGOTIATION_URL_PREFIX => t('Path prefix'),
       LOCALE_LANGUAGE_NEGOTIATION_URL_DOMAIN => t('Domain'),
     ),
     '#default_value' => variable_get('locale_language_negotiation_url_part', LOCALE_LANGUAGE_NEGOTIATION_URL_PREFIX),
+    '#description' => t('<em>Path prefix</em>: URLs like http://example.com/de/contact set language to German (de). <em>Domain</em>: URLs like http://de.example.com/contact set the language to German. <strong>Warning: Changing this setting may break incoming URLs. Use with caution on a production site.</strong>'),
   );
 
   $form['#redirect'] = 'admin/config/regional/language/configure';
diff --git a/modules/locale/locale.module b/modules/locale/locale.module
index 67cb9491a7a1588da9aa1fbf5232476bd08d8fb4..bfc16e43abb9e04abd0414926cc7c5efee70b8b0 100644
--- a/modules/locale/locale.module
+++ b/modules/locale/locale.module
@@ -67,12 +67,9 @@ function locale_help($path, $arg) {
       $output = '<p>' . t('With multiple languages enabled, interface text can be translated, registered users may select their preferred language, and authors can assign a specific language to content. <a href="@translations">Download contributed translations</a> from Drupal.org.', array('@translations' => 'http://drupal.org/project/translations')) . '</p>';
       return $output;
     case 'admin/config/regional/language/add':
-      return '<p>' . t('Add all languages to be supported by your site. If your desired language is not available in the <em>Language name</em> drop-down, click <em>Custom language</em> and provide a language code and other details manually. When providing a language code manually, be sure to enter a standardized language code, since this code may be used by browsers to determine an appropriate display language.') . '</p>';
+      return '<p>' . t('Add a language to be supported by your site. If your desired language is not available in the <em>Language name</em> drop-down, click <em>Custom language</em> and provide a language code and other details manually. When providing a language code manually, be sure to enter a standardized language code, since this code may be used by browsers to determine an appropriate display language.') . '</p>';
     case 'admin/config/regional/language/configure':
-      $output = '<p>' . t("Set which languages to use for content and for the administrative interface. Drag the detection methods into the order they should test for languages. The first method that gets a result will set the language for the relevant part of the site. <strong>Changing these settings may break all incoming URLs, use with caution in a production environment.</strong>") . '</p>';
-      return $output;
-    case 'admin/config/regional/language/configure/url':
-      $output = '<p>' . t('Determine the language by examining the URL. Example: "http://example.com/de/contact" sets language to German based on the use of "de" as the path prefix. "http://de.example.com/contact" sets presentation language to German based on the use of "http://de.example.com" in the domain.') . '</p>';
+      $output = '<p>' . t("Define how to decide which language is used to display content (text that you create and edit) and user interface text (text provided by Drupal and modules, such as field labels and help text). This decision is made by evaluating a series of detection methods for languages; the first detection method that gets a result will determine which language is used for that type of text. Define the order of evaluation of language detection methods on this page.") . '</p>';
       return $output;
     case 'admin/config/regional/language/configure/session':
       $output = '<p>' . t('Determine the language from a request/session parameter. Example: "http://example.com?language=de" sets language to German based on the use of "de" within the "language" parameter.') . '</p>';
@@ -124,7 +121,7 @@ function locale_menu() {
     'file' => 'locale.admin.inc',
   );
   $items['admin/config/regional/language/configure'] = array(
-    'title' => 'Configure',
+    'title' => 'Detection and selection',
     'page callback' => 'drupal_get_form',
     'page arguments' => array('locale_languages_configure_form'),
     'access arguments' => array('administer languages'),
@@ -133,14 +130,14 @@ function locale_menu() {
     'type' => MENU_LOCAL_TASK,
   );
   $items['admin/config/regional/language/configure/url'] = array(
-    'title' => 'URL language provider configuration',
+    'title' => 'URL language detection configuration',
     'page callback' => 'drupal_get_form',
     'page arguments' => array('locale_language_providers_url_form'),
     'access arguments' => array('administer languages'),
     'file' => 'locale.admin.inc',
   );
   $items['admin/config/regional/language/configure/session'] = array(
-    'title' => 'Session language provider configuration',
+    'title' => 'Session language detection configuration',
     'page callback' => 'drupal_get_form',
     'page arguments' => array('locale_language_providers_session_form'),
     'access arguments' => array('administer languages'),
@@ -483,12 +480,12 @@ function locale_entity_info_alter(&$entity_info) {
 function locale_language_types_info() {
   return array(
     LANGUAGE_TYPE_CONTENT => array(
-      'name' => t('Content'),
-      'description' => t('If a piece of content is available in multiple languages, the one matching the <em>content</em> language will be used.'),
+      'name' => t('Content language detection'),
+      'description' => t('Order of language detection methods for content. If a version of content is available in the detected language, it will be displayed.'),
     ),
     LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE => array(
-      'name' => t('Interface'),
-      'description' => t('The interface labels will be displayed in the <em>interface</em> language.'),
+      'name' => t('User interface text language detection'),
+      'description' => t('Order of language detection methods for user interface text. If a translation of user interface text is available in the detected language, it will be displayed.'),
     ),
     LANGUAGE_TYPE_URL => array(
       'fixed' => array(LOCALE_LANGUAGE_NEGOTIATION_URL),
@@ -526,7 +523,7 @@ function locale_language_negotiation_info() {
     'file' => $file,
     'weight' => -6,
     'name' => t('Session'),
-    'description' => t('The language is determined from a request/session parameter.'),
+    'description' => t('Determine the language from a request/session parameter.'),
     'config' => 'admin/config/regional/language/configure/session',
   );
 
@@ -535,7 +532,7 @@ function locale_language_negotiation_info() {
     'file' => $file,
     'weight' => -4,
     'name' => t('User'),
-    'description' => t("Show in this user's language preference."),
+    'description' => t("Follow the user's language preference."),
   );
 
   $providers[LOCALE_LANGUAGE_NEGOTIATION_BROWSER] = array(
@@ -544,7 +541,7 @@ function locale_language_negotiation_info() {
     'weight' => -2,
     'cache' => CACHE_DISABLED,
     'name' => t('Browser'),
-    'description' => t('The language is determined from the browser\'s language settings.'),
+    'description' => t("Determine the language from the browser's language settings."),
   );
 
   $providers[LOCALE_LANGUAGE_NEGOTIATION_CONTENT] = array(
@@ -553,7 +550,7 @@ function locale_language_negotiation_info() {
     'file' => $file,
     'weight' => 8,
     'name' => t('Content'),
-    'description' => t('The interface language is the same as the negotiated content language.'),
+    'description' => t('Use the detected content language.'),
   );
 
   return $providers;
diff --git a/modules/node/node.module b/modules/node/node.module
index 95beedba4d21bf13a319f43074aa3aced49c0f58..721f89c7b085e41a1e0b707ca5cde14789ea2c63 100644
--- a/modules/node/node.module
+++ b/modules/node/node.module
@@ -1265,8 +1265,8 @@ function node_language_negotiation_info() {
     'types' => array(LANGUAGE_TYPE_CONTENT),
     'callbacks' => array('language' => 'node_language_provider'),
     'file' => drupal_get_path('module', 'node') . '/node.module',
-    'name' => t('Node'),
-    'description' => t('The current node language is used.'),
+    'name' => t('Content'),
+    'description' => t('Use the language of the displayed content.'),
   );
 
   return $providers;