diff --git a/src/strgen/strgen.cpp b/src/strgen/strgen.cpp
index 6771a118e5..4f08433d0b 100644
--- a/src/strgen/strgen.cpp
+++ b/src/strgen/strgen.cpp
@@ -35,10 +35,10 @@
 
 void StrgenWarningI(const std::string &msg)
 {
-	if (_show_todo > 0) {
-		fmt::print(stderr, LINE_NUM_FMT("warning"), _file, _cur_line, msg);
-	} else {
+	if (_translation) {
 		fmt::print(stderr, LINE_NUM_FMT("info"), _file, _cur_line, msg);
+	} else {
+		fmt::print(stderr, LINE_NUM_FMT("warning"), _file, _cur_line, msg);
 	}
 	_warnings++;
 }
@@ -364,11 +364,11 @@ int CDECL main(int argc, char *argv[])
 				return 0;
 
 			case 't':
-				_show_todo |= 1;
+				_annotate_todos = true;
 				break;
 
 			case 'w':
-				_show_todo |= 2;
+				_show_warnings = true;
 				break;
 
 			case 'h':
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ int CDECL main(int argc, char *argv[])
 				writer.Finalise();
 
 				/* if showing warnings, print a summary of the language */
-				if ((_show_todo & 2) != 0) {
+				if (_show_warnings) {
 					fmt::print("{} warnings and {} errors for {}\n", _warnings, _errors, output_file);
 				}
 			}
diff --git a/src/strgen/strgen.h b/src/strgen/strgen.h
index da8a30b050..49d5e4e58a 100644
--- a/src/strgen/strgen.h
+++ b/src/strgen/strgen.h
@@ -156,7 +156,8 @@ char *ParseWord(char **buf);
 
 extern const char *_file;
 extern int _cur_line;
-extern int _errors, _warnings, _show_todo;
+extern int _errors, _warnings;
+extern bool _show_warnings, _annotate_todos, _translation;
 extern LanguagePackHeader _lang;
 
 #endif /* STRGEN_H */
diff --git a/src/strgen/strgen_base.cpp b/src/strgen/strgen_base.cpp
index aa23bc1bbf..6a41455b8b 100644
--- a/src/strgen/strgen_base.cpp
+++ b/src/strgen/strgen_base.cpp
@@ -21,10 +21,11 @@
 #include "../safeguards.h"
 
 static bool _translated;              ///< Whether the current language is not the master language
-static bool _translation;             ///< Is the current file actually a translation or not
+bool _translation;                    ///< Is the current file actually a translation or not
 const char *_file = "(unknown file)"; ///< The filename of the input, so we can refer to it in errors/warnings
 int _cur_line;                        ///< The current line we're parsing in the input file
-int _errors, _warnings, _show_todo;
+int _errors, _warnings;
+bool _show_warnings = false, _annotate_todos = false;
 LanguagePackHeader _lang;             ///< Header information about a language.
 static const char *_cur_ident;
 static ParsedCommandStruct _cur_pcs;
@@ -344,7 +345,7 @@ void EmitPlural(Buffer *buffer, char *buf, int)
 			StrgenFatal("{}: Invalid number of plural forms. Expecting {}, found {}.", _cur_ident,
 				expected, nw);
 		} else {
-			if ((_show_todo & 2) != 0) StrgenWarning("'{}' is untranslated. Tweaking english string to allow compilation for plural forms", _cur_ident);
+			if (_show_warnings) StrgenWarning("'{}' is untranslated. Tweaking english string to allow compilation for plural forms", _cur_ident);
 			if (nw > expected) {
 				nw = expected;
 			} else {
@@ -728,10 +729,6 @@ void StringReader::ParseFile()
 	_translation = this->translation;
 	_file = this->file.c_str();
 
-	/* Abusing _show_todo to replace "warning" with "info" for translations. */
-	_show_todo &= 3;
-	if (!this->translation) _show_todo |= 4;
-
 	/* For each new file we parse, reset the genders, and language codes. */
 	MemSetT(&_lang, 0);
 	strecpy(_lang.digit_group_separator, ",");
@@ -903,11 +900,11 @@ void LanguageWriter::WriteLang(const StringData &data)
 			_cur_line = ls->line;
 
 			/* Produce a message if a string doesn't have a translation. */
-			if (_show_todo > 0 && ls->translated.empty()) {
-				if ((_show_todo & 2) != 0) {
+			if (ls->translated.empty()) {
+				if (_show_warnings) {
 					StrgenWarning("'{}' is untranslated", ls->name);
 				}
-				if ((_show_todo & 1) != 0) {
+				if (_annotate_todos) {
 					const char *s = "<TODO> ";
 					while (*s != '\0') buffer.AppendByte(*s++);
 				}