diff --git a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/products.py b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/products.py
index 22b1f752660..e45e274d87e 100644
--- a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/products.py
+++ b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/pagemodels/products.py
@@ -43,32 +43,43 @@
     ('Needs Improvement', 'Needs Improvement'),
     ('Bad', 'Bad')
 ]
-
-DEFAULT_LOCALE_ID = Locale.objects.get(language_code=settings.LANGUAGE_CODE).id
+DEFAULT_LANGUAGE_CODE = settings.LANGUAGE_CODE
+DEFAULT_LOCALE = Locale.objects.get(language_code=DEFAULT_LANGUAGE_CODE)
+DEFAULT_LOCALE_ID = DEFAULT_LOCALE.id
 
 
 def get_language_code_from_request(request):
     """
     Accepts a request. Returns a language code (string) if there is one. Falls back to English.
     """
-    default_language_code = settings.LANGUAGE_CODE
+    language_code = DEFAULT_LANGUAGE_CODE
     if hasattr(request, 'LANGUAGE_CODE'):
-        default_language_code = request.LANGUAGE_CODE
-    return default_language_code
+        language_code = request.LANGUAGE_CODE
+    return language_code
+
 
 def get_categories_for_locale(language_code):
     """
-    Make sure that we check both the "whatever the current locale" category
-    for whether or not it's hidden, but also the original English version.
+    Start with the English list of categories, and replace any of them
+    with their localized counterpart, where possible, so that we don't
+    end up with an incomplete category list due to missing locale records.
     """
+    default_locale_list = BuyersGuideProductCategory.objects.filter(
+        hidden=False,
+        locale=DEFAULT_LOCALE,
+    )
+
+    if language_code == DEFAULT_LANGUAGE_CODE:
+        return default_locale_list
+
+    actual_locale = Locale.objects.get(language_code=language_code)
     return [
-            cat
-            for cat in BuyersGuideProductCategory.objects.filter(
-                hidden=False,
-                locale=Locale.objects.get(language_code=language_code)
-            )
-            if not cat.original.hidden
-        ]
+        BuyersGuideProductCategory.objects.filter(
+            translation_key=cat.translation_key,
+            locale=actual_locale,
+        ).first() or cat for cat in default_locale_list
+    ]
+
 
 def get_product_subset(cutoff_date, authenticated, key, products, language_code='en'):
     """
diff --git a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templates/buyersguide/bg_base.html b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templates/buyersguide/bg_base.html
index 0db9399eea9..312c6376a0a 100644
--- a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templates/buyersguide/bg_base.html
+++ b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templates/buyersguide/bg_base.html
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
             {% with original=cat.original %}
             {% if original.published_product_page_count > 0 %}
               {% localizedroutablepageurl home_page 'category-view' lang_code original.slug as cat_url %}
-              <a class="multipage-link {% check_active_category current_category cat %}{% if original.featured is True %} featured{% endif %}" href="{{ cat_url }}" data-name="{{ cat.name }}">{{ cat.name }}</a>
+              <a class="multipage-link {% check_active_category current_category cat %}{% if original.featured is True %} featured{% endif %}" href="{{ cat_url }}" data-name="{{ original.name }}">{{ cat.name }}</a>
             {% endif %}
             {% endwith %}
           {% endfor %}
diff --git a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templates/buyersguide/fragments/category_nav_links.html b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templates/buyersguide/fragments/category_nav_links.html
index a431d72735f..031dcb34d87 100644
--- a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templates/buyersguide/fragments/category_nav_links.html
+++ b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templates/buyersguide/fragments/category_nav_links.html
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
     <a
       class="multipage-link {% check_active_category current_category cat %}{% if original.featured is True %} featured{% endif %}"
       href="{{ cat_url }}"
-      data-name="{{ cat.name }}">
+      data-name="{{ original.name }}">
       {{ cat.name }}
     </a>
   {% endif %}
diff --git a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templatetags/bg_nav_tags.py b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templatetags/bg_nav_tags.py
index 6d24d417a03..d32bd9d4480 100644
--- a/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templatetags/bg_nav_tags.py
+++ b/network-api/networkapi/wagtailpages/templatetags/bg_nav_tags.py
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 def check_active_category(current_category, target_category):
     # because we're working with potentially localized data,
     # make sure to compare the linguistic originals.
-    current_category = getattr(current_category, 'alias_of', current_category)
-    target_category = getattr(target_category, 'alias_of', target_category)
+    current_category = getattr(current_category, 'original', current_category)
+    target_category = getattr(target_category, 'original', target_category)
     return 'active' if current_category == target_category else ''