diff --git a/core/includes/bootstrap.inc b/core/includes/bootstrap.inc
index 3af9f02..9e1cabc 100644
--- a/core/includes/bootstrap.inc
+++ b/core/includes/bootstrap.inc
@@ -1353,12 +1353,11 @@ function drupal_unpack($obj, $field = 'data') {
  * @ingroup sanitization
  */
 function t($string, array $args = array(), array $options = array()) {
-  $language_interface = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE);
   static $custom_strings;
 
   // Merge in default.
   if (empty($options['langcode'])) {
-    $options['langcode'] = isset($language_interface->langcode) ? $language_interface->langcode : LANGUAGE_SYSTEM;
+    $options['langcode'] = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE)->langcode;
   }
   if (empty($options['context'])) {
     $options['context'] = '';
@@ -2309,8 +2308,10 @@ function drupal_get_bootstrap_phase() {
  *
  * Example:
  * @code
- * // Register the LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE definition.  Registered definitions
+ * // Register the LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE definition. Registered definitions
  * // do not necessarily need to be named by a constant.
+ * // See http://symfony.com/doc/current/components/dependency_injection.html
+ * // for usage examples of adding object initialization code after register().
  * $container = drupal_container();
  * $container->register(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE, 'Drupal\\Core\\Language\\Language');
  *
@@ -2485,34 +2486,12 @@ function drupal_language_initialize() {
   $types = language_types_get_all();
   $container = drupal_container();
 
-  // Ensure the language is correctly returned, even without multilanguage
-  // support. Also make sure we have a $language fallback, in case a language
-  // negotiation callback needs to do a full bootstrap.
-  // Useful for eg. XML/HTML 'lang' attributes.
-  //   $language_interface: http://drupal.org/node/1510686
-  //   $language_url: http://drupal.org/node/1512310
-  //   $language_content: http://drupal.org/node/1512308
-  // @todo Eliminate this line once all language globals are eliminated.
-  $default = language_default();
-  foreach ($types as $type) {
-    $GLOBALS[$type] = $default;
-
-    // Register the language types to the Drupal Container as the default
-    // language. When the types are retrieved, these Language objects will be
-    // dynamically constructed, with their default property set to TRUE.
-    $container->register($type, 'Drupal\\Core\\Language\\Language')
-      ->addMethodCall('extend', array($default));
-  }
+  // Ensure a language object is registered for each language type, whether the
+  // site is multilingual or not.
   if (language_multilingual()) {
     include_once DRUPAL_ROOT . '/core/includes/language.inc';
     foreach ($types as $type) {
       $language = language_types_initialize($type);
-      $GLOBALS[$type] = $language;
-
-      // Swap the previously registered language type with the newly initialized
-      // one. This time, however, instead of setting it as the default, we will
-      // be setting it to what was given to use from when we called the
-      // language_types_initialize() function.
       $container->register($type, 'Drupal\\Core\\Language\\Language')
         ->addMethodCall('extend', array($language));
     }
@@ -2520,6 +2499,22 @@ function drupal_language_initialize() {
     // environments.
     bootstrap_invoke_all('language_init');
   }
+  else {
+    $default = language_default();
+    foreach ($types as $type) {
+      $container->register($type, 'Drupal\\Core\\Language\\Language')
+        ->addMethodCall('extend', array($default));
+    }
+  }
+
+  // @todo Temporary backwards compatibility for code still using globals.
+  //   Remove after these issues:
+  //   - $language_interface: http://drupal.org/node/1510686
+  //   - $language_url: http://drupal.org/node/1512310
+  //   - $language_content: http://drupal.org/node/1512308
+  foreach ($types as $type) {
+    $GLOBALS[$type] = $container->get($type);
+  }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/core/includes/common.inc b/core/includes/common.inc
index 50fc1ec..e57ca93 100644
--- a/core/includes/common.inc
+++ b/core/includes/common.inc
@@ -1607,8 +1607,7 @@ function filter_xss_bad_protocol($string, $decode = TRUE) {
  * Arbitrary elements may be added using the $args associative array.
  */
 function format_rss_channel($title, $link, $description, $items, $langcode = NULL, $args = array()) {
-  $language_content = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_CONTENT);
-  $langcode = $langcode ? $langcode : $language_content->langcode;
+  $langcode = $langcode ? $langcode : drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_CONTENT)->langcode;
 
   $output = "<channel>\n";
   $output .= ' <title>' . check_plain($title) . "</title>\n";
@@ -1909,9 +1908,8 @@ function format_date($timestamp, $type = 'medium', $format = '', $timezone = NUL
     $timezones[$timezone] = timezone_open($timezone);
   }
 
-  $language_interface = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE);
   if (empty($langcode)) {
-    $langcode = isset($language_interface->langcode) ? $language_interface->langcode : LANGUAGE_SYSTEM;
+    $langcode = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE)->langcode;
   }
 
   switch ($type) {
@@ -2351,7 +2349,6 @@ function drupal_attributes(array $attributes = array()) {
  *   An HTML string containing a link to the given path.
  */
 function l($text, $path, array $options = array()) {
-  $language_url = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_URL);
   static $use_theme = NULL;
 
   // Merge in defaults.
@@ -2362,7 +2359,7 @@ function l($text, $path, array $options = array()) {
 
   // Append active class.
   if (($path == $_GET['q'] || ($path == '<front>' && drupal_is_front_page())) &&
-      (empty($options['language']) || $options['language']->langcode == $language_url->langcode)) {
+      (empty($options['language']) || $options['language']->langcode == drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_URL)->langcode)) {
     $options['attributes']['class'][] = 'active';
   }
 
@@ -2518,8 +2515,7 @@ function drupal_deliver_html_page($page_callback_result) {
     drupal_add_http_header('X-UA-Compatible', 'IE=edge,chrome=1');
   }
 
-  $language_interface = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE);
-  drupal_add_http_header('Content-Language', $language_interface->langcode);
+  drupal_add_http_header('Content-Language', drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE)->langcode);
 
   // Menu status constants are integers; page content is a string or array.
   if (is_int($page_callback_result)) {
diff --git a/core/includes/locale.inc b/core/includes/locale.inc
index 3d0dd1b..a475396 100644
--- a/core/includes/locale.inc
+++ b/core/includes/locale.inc
@@ -112,8 +112,7 @@ const LANGUAGE_NEGOTIATION_URL_DOMAIN = 1;
  *   The current interface language code.
  */
 function locale_language_from_interface() {
-  $language_interface = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE);
-  return isset($language_interface->langcode) ? $language_interface->langcode : FALSE;
+  return drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE)->langcode;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/core/includes/path.inc b/core/includes/path.inc
index 5545fc1..d6a0201 100644
--- a/core/includes/path.inc
+++ b/core/includes/path.inc
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ function drupal_path_initialize() {
  *   found.
  */
 function drupal_lookup_path($action, $path = '', $langcode = NULL) {
-  $language_url = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_URL);
   // Use the advanced drupal_static() pattern, since this is called very often.
   static $drupal_static_fast;
   if (!isset($drupal_static_fast)) {
@@ -74,7 +73,7 @@ function drupal_lookup_path($action, $path = '', $langcode = NULL) {
   // language. If we used a language different from the one conveyed by the
   // requested URL, we might end up being unable to check if there is a path
   // alias matching the URL path.
-  $langcode = $langcode ? $langcode : $language_url->langcode;
+  $langcode = $langcode ? $langcode : drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_URL)->langcode;
 
   if ($action == 'wipe') {
     $cache = array();
diff --git a/core/includes/theme.inc b/core/includes/theme.inc
index 7648bc8..1dbcadd 100644
--- a/core/includes/theme.inc
+++ b/core/includes/theme.inc
@@ -2786,9 +2786,6 @@ function template_preprocess_maintenance_page(&$variables) {
 
   $language_interface = drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE);
 
-  // set the default language if necessary
-  $language = isset($language_interface) ? $language_interface : language_default();
-
   $variables['head_title_array']  = $head_title;
   $variables['head_title']        = implode(' | ', $head_title);
   $variables['base_path']         = base_path();
@@ -2796,8 +2793,8 @@ function template_preprocess_maintenance_page(&$variables) {
   $variables['breadcrumb']        = '';
   $variables['feed_icons']        = '';
   $variables['help']              = '';
-  $variables['language']          = $language;
-  $variables['language']->dir     = $language->direction ? 'rtl' : 'ltr';
+  $variables['language']          = $language_interface;
+  $variables['language']->dir     = $language_interface->direction ? 'rtl' : 'ltr';
   $variables['logo']              = theme_get_setting('logo');
   $variables['messages']          = $variables['show_messages'] ? theme('status_messages') : '';
   $variables['main_menu']         = array();
diff --git a/core/modules/system/language.api.php b/core/modules/system/language.api.php
index aa8fd2f..9f28619 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/language.api.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/language.api.php
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@
  * did not happen yet and thus they cannot rely on translated variables.
  */
 function hook_language_init() {
-  global $language_interface, $conf;
+  global $conf;
 
-  switch ($language_interface->langcode) {
+  switch (drupal_container()->get(LANGUAGE_TYPE_INTERFACE)->langcode) {
     case 'it':
       $conf['site_name'] = 'Il mio sito Drupal';
       break;