diff --git a/src/helpers.cpp b/src/helpers.cpp
index a52b5fbfb..7e0ab3843 100644
--- a/src/helpers.cpp
+++ b/src/helpers.cpp
@@ -707,6 +707,11 @@ std::string Helpers::translated_word(const char * const * strings, bool to_lower
     uint8_t language_index = EMSESP::system_.language_index();
     uint8_t index          = 0;
 
+    // check for empty
+    if (!strings) {
+        return ""; // it's a nullptr with no translations, return empty to prevent unwanted crash
+    }
+
     // see how many translations we have for this entity. if there is no translation for this, revert to EN
     if (Helpers::count_items(strings) >= language_index + 1 && strlen(strings[language_index])) {
         index = language_index;