diff --git a/src/locales/scripts/bulk-download.js b/src/locales/scripts/bulk-download.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1cc5dfcb8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/locales/scripts/bulk-download.js
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+const { pipeline } = require("stream/promises")
+
+const { createWriteStream } = require("fs")
+
+const qs = require("qs")
+const AdmZip = require("adm-zip")
+
+const { writeLocaleFile } = require("./utils")
+const axios = require("./axios")
+const jed1xJsonToJson = require("./jed1x-json-to-json")
+
+const LOGIN_URL = "https://login.wordpress.org/wp-login.php"
+const BULK_DOWNLOAD_URL =
+  "https://translate.wordpress.org/exporter/meta/openverse/-do/"
+
+/**
+ * Given a username and password, login to WordPress and get the authentication
+ * cookies from the `Set-Cookie` header.
+ *
+ * @param log {string} - the username to log in with
+ * @param pwd {string} - the password for the given username
+ * @return {Promise<string[]>} - the list of cookies in the `Set-Cookie` header
+ */
+const getAuthCookies = async (log, pwd) => {
+  const res = await axios.post(
+    LOGIN_URL,
+    qs.stringify({
+      log,
+      pwd,
+      rememberme: "forever",
+      "wp-submit": "Log In",
+      redirect_to: "https://make.wordpress.org/",
+    }),
+    {
+      headers: { "content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" },
+      maxRedirects: 0,
+      validateStatus: () => true,
+    }
+  )
+  if (
+    res.status == 302 &&
+    res.headers["set-cookie"].join(" ").includes("wporg_logged_in")
+  ) {
+    return res.headers["set-cookie"].map((cookie) =>
+      cookie.substring(0, cookie.indexOf(";"))
+    )
+  }
+  throw new Error(`Authentication failed: server returned ${res.status}`)
+}
+
+/**
+ * Fetch the ZIP of translations strings from GlotPress using the authentication
+ * cookies to access the page.
+ *
+ * @param cookies {string[]} - the cookies to authenticate the ZIP download
+ * @return {Promise<string>}} - the path to the downloaded ZIP file
+ */
+const fetchBulkJed1x = async (cookies) => {
+  const res = await axios.get(BULK_DOWNLOAD_URL, {
+    headers: { cookie: cookies.join(";") },
+    params: { "export-format": "jed1x" },
+    responseType: "stream",
+  })
+  const destPath = process.cwd() + "/src/locales/openverse.zip"
+  await pipeline(res.data, createWriteStream(destPath))
+  return destPath
+}
+
+/**
+ * Extract all JSON file from the given ZIP file. Their names are sanitised to
+ * be in the format `<locale_code>.json`.
+ *
+ * @param zipPath {string} - the path to the ZIP file to extract
+ * @return {Promise<unknown[]>} - the outcome of writing all ZIP files
+ */
+const extractZip = async (zipPath) => {
+  const zip = new AdmZip(zipPath, undefined)
+  const localeJsonMap = zip
+    .getEntries()
+    .filter((entry) => entry.entryName.endsWith(".json"))
+    .map((entry) => {
+      const jed1xObj = JSON.parse(zip.readAsText(entry))
+      const vueI18nObj = jed1xJsonToJson(jed1xObj)
+      const localeName = entry.name
+        .replace("meta-openverse-", "")
+        .replace(".jed.json", "")
+      return [localeName, vueI18nObj]
+    })
+  return await Promise.all(
+    localeJsonMap.map((args) => writeLocaleFile(...args))
+  )
+}
+
+/**
+ * Perform a bulk download of translation strings from GlotPress and extrat the
+ * JSON files from the ZIP archive.
+ *
+ * @return {Promise<boolean>} - whether the bulk download succeeded
+ */
+const bulkDownload = async () => {
+  console.log("Performing bulk download.")
+  const username = process.env.GLOTPRESS_USERNAME
+  const password = process.env.GLOTPRESS_PASSWORD
+
+  if (!(username && password)) {
+    console.log("Auth credentials not found, bulk download cancelled.")
+    throw new Error("Bulk download cancelled")
+  }
+
+  const cookies = await getAuthCookies(username, password)
+  const zipPath = await fetchBulkJed1x(cookies)
+  const translations = await extractZip(zipPath)
+  console.log(`Successfully saved ${translations.length} translations.`)
+}
+
+module.exports = bulkDownload
diff --git a/src/locales/scripts/get-translations.js b/src/locales/scripts/get-translations.js
index 103c541206..67c64fd95f 100644
--- a/src/locales/scripts/get-translations.js
+++ b/src/locales/scripts/get-translations.js
@@ -2,220 +2,16 @@
  * Fetch the NGX-Translate JSON file for each supported language,
  * convert to our JSON format, and save in the correct folder.
  */
-const { writeFile } = require("fs/promises")
-const { writeFileSync, createWriteStream } = require("fs")
+
+const { writeFileSync } = require("fs")
 const os = require("os")
 
 const chokidar = require("chokidar")
-const qs = require("qs")
-const AdmZip = require("adm-zip")
-
-const axios = require("./axios")
 
-const jed1xJsonToJson = require("./jed1x-json-to-json")
 const { parseJson } = require("./read-i18n")
 
-/**
- *
- * @typedef {"json"|"jed1x"|"ngx"} JSONFormat
- * @returns
- */
-
-/**
- * A GlotPress Output format for translation strings
- * @typedef {("android"|"po"|"mo"|"resx"|"strings"|"properties"|"json"|"jed1x"|"ngx" & JSONFormat)} Format
- */
-
-const baseUrl = "https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/meta/openverse"
-const bulkBaseUrl = "https://translate.wordpress.org/exporter/meta/openverse"
-const loginUrl = "https://login.wordpress.org/wp-login.php"
-
-/**
- *
- * @param {Format} format
- * @returns {(localeCode: string) => string}
- */
-const makeTranslationUrl =
-  (format = "po") =>
-  (localeCode = "en-gb") =>
-    `${baseUrl}/${localeCode}/default/export-translations/?format=${format}`
-
-/**
- * fetch a json translation from GlotPress
- * @param {string} locale
- */
-const fetchJed1xTranslation = (locale) =>
-  axios
-    .get(makeTranslationUrl("jed1x")(locale))
-    .then((res) => res.data)
-    .catch((err) => err.response.status)
-
-const replacePlaceholders = (json) => {
-  if (json === null) {
-    return null
-  }
-  if (typeof json === "string") {
-    return json.replace(/###([a-zA-Z-]*)###/g, "{$1}")
-  }
-  let currentJson = { ...json }
-
-  for (const row of Object.entries(currentJson)) {
-    let [key, value] = row
-    currentJson[key] = replacePlaceholders(value)
-  }
-  return currentJson
-}
-/**
- * Write translation strings to a file in the locale directory
- * @param {string} locale
- * @param {any} rawTranslations
- */
-const writeLocaleFile = (locale, rawTranslations) => {
-  const translations = replacePlaceholders(rawTranslations)
-  return writeFile(
-    process.cwd() + `/src/locales/${locale}.json`,
-    JSON.stringify(translations, null, 2) + os.EOL
-  )
-}
-
-/**
- * Write a file for each translation object
- * @param {{[locale: string]: {[translation: string]: string}}} translationsByLocale
- */
-const writeLocaleFiles = (translationsByLocale) =>
-  Promise.all(
-    Object.entries(translationsByLocale).map(([locale, translations]) =>
-      writeLocaleFile(locale, translations)
-    )
-  )
-
-// Check if an object is empty
-const isEmpty = (obj) => Object.values(obj).every((x) => x === null)
-
-/**
- * Write translation files to the "src/locales" directory from
- * the supplied list of locales
- *
- * @param {string[]} locales
- */
-const fetchAndConvertJed1xTranslations = (locales) => {
-  return Promise.allSettled(locales.map(fetchJed1xTranslation))
-    .then((res) => {
-      let successfulTranslations = []
-      let failedTranslations = []
-      res.forEach(({ status, value }, index) => {
-        if (status === "fulfilled" && !isEmpty(value)) {
-          successfulTranslations[locales[index]] = value
-        } else {
-          failedTranslations.push(`${locales[index]} (${value})`)
-        }
-      })
-      if (failedTranslations.length) {
-        console.log(`Failed to fetch ${failedTranslations.join(", ")}`)
-      }
-      return successfulTranslations
-    })
-    .then((res) => {
-      Object.keys(res).forEach((key) => {
-        res[key] = jed1xJsonToJson(res[key])
-      })
-      return res
-    })
-    .then(writeLocaleFiles)
-}
-
-/**
- * Get the URL to download a ZIP file containing all translation strings for all
- * locales in the specified format.
- *
- * @param {Format} format - the
- * @return {string}
- */
-const makeBulkTranslationUrl = (format = "po") =>
-  `${bulkBaseUrl}/-do/?export-format=${format}`
-
-/**
- * Fetch the ZIP of translations strings from GlotPress using the authentication
- * cookies to access the page.
- *
- * @param cookies {string[]} - the cookies to authenticate the ZIP download
- * @return {Promise<string>}} - the path to the downloaded ZIP file
- */
-const fetchBulkJed1xTranslations = (cookies) =>
-  axios
-    .get(makeBulkTranslationUrl("jed1x"), {
-      headers: { cookie: cookies.join("; ") },
-      responseType: "stream",
-    })
-    .then((res) => {
-      return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-        const dest = process.cwd() + "/src/locales/openverse.zip"
-        const writer = createWriteStream(dest)
-        res.data.pipe(writer)
-        writer.on("error", reject)
-        writer.on("close", () => {
-          resolve(dest)
-        })
-      })
-    })
-    .catch((err) => {
-      console.log(err)
-    })
-
-/**
- * Given a username and password, login to WordPress and get the authentication
- * cookies from the `Set-Cookie` header.
- *
- * @param log {string} - the username to log in with
- * @param pwd {string} - the password for the given username
- * @return {Promise<string[]>} - the list of cookies in the `Set-Cookie` header
- */
-const getAuthCookies = (log, pwd) =>
-  axios
-    .post(
-      loginUrl,
-      qs.stringify({
-        log,
-        pwd,
-        rememberme: "forever",
-        "wp-submit": "Log In",
-        redirect_to: "https://make.wordpress.org/",
-      }),
-      {
-        headers: { "content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" },
-        maxRedirects: 0,
-        validateStatus: (status) => status === 302, // successful login results in redirect
-      }
-    )
-    .then((res) =>
-      res.headers["set-cookie"].map((cookie) =>
-        cookie.substring(0, cookie.indexOf(";"))
-      )
-    )
-
-/**
- * Extract all JSON file from the given ZIP file. Their names are sanitised to
- * be in the format `<locale_code>.json`.
- *
- * @param zipPath {string} - the path to the ZIP file to extract
- * @return {Promise<number>} - the number of locales successfully downloaded
- */
-const extractZip = (zipPath) => {
-  const zip = new AdmZip(zipPath)
-  return Promise.all(
-    zip
-      .getEntries()
-      .filter((entry) => entry.entryName.endsWith(".json"))
-      .map((entry) => {
-        const jed1x = JSON.parse(zip.readAsText(entry))
-        const locale = entry.name
-          .replace("meta-openverse-", "")
-          .replace(".jed.json", "")
-        return [locale, jed1xJsonToJson(jed1x)]
-      })
-      .map((args) => writeLocaleFile(...args))
-  )
-}
+const bulkDownload = require("./bulk-download")
+const separateDownload = require("./separate-download")
 
 /**
  * Write `en.json` from `en.json5`.
@@ -241,28 +37,16 @@ if (process.argv.includes("--watch")) {
 }
 
 if (!process.argv.includes("--en-only")) {
-  const username = process.env.GLOTPRESS_USERNAME
-  const password = process.env.GLOTPRESS_PASSWORD
-  if (username && password) {
-    console.log("Auth credentials found, performing bulk download.")
-
-    getAuthCookies(username, password)
-      .then(fetchBulkJed1xTranslations)
-      .then(extractZip)
-      .then((res) => {
-        console.log(`Successfully saved ${res.length + 1} translations.`)
-      })
-      .catch(console.error)
-  } else {
-    console.log("Auth credentials not found, performing parallel download.")
-
-    const localeJSON = require("./wp-locales.json")
-    fetchAndConvertJed1xTranslations(
-      Object.values(localeJSON).map((i) => i.slug)
-    )
-      .then((res) => {
-        console.log(`Successfully saved ${res.length + 1} translations.`)
-      })
-      .catch(console.error)
-  }
+  bulkDownload()
+    .catch((err) => {
+      console.error(err)
+      return separateDownload()
+    })
+    .catch((err) => {
+      console.error(err)
+      console.error(":'-( Downloading translations failed.")
+      if (process.argv.includes("--require-complete")) {
+        process.exitCode = 1
+      }
+    })
 }
diff --git a/src/locales/scripts/separate-download.js b/src/locales/scripts/separate-download.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a4ca219afa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/locales/scripts/separate-download.js
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+const axios = require("./axios")
+const { writeLocaleFile } = require("./utils")
+const jed1xJsonToJson = require("./jed1x-json-to-json")
+
+const DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL =
+  "https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/meta/openverse"
+
+const getTranslationUrl = (locale) =>
+  `${DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL}/${locale}/default/export-translations/`
+
+const fetchJed1x = async (locale) => {
+  try {
+    const res = await axios.get(getTranslationUrl(locale), {
+      params: { format: "jed1x" },
+    })
+    return res.data
+  } catch (err) {
+    return err.response.status
+  }
+}
+
+const isEmpty = (obj) => Object.values(obj).every((x) => x === null)
+
+const fetchJed1xAll = async (locales) => {
+  const results = await Promise.allSettled(locales.map(fetchJed1x))
+
+  let succeeded = {}
+  let failed = {}
+  results.forEach(({ status, value }, index) => {
+    if (status === "fulfilled" && !isEmpty(value)) {
+      succeeded[locales[index]] = jed1xJsonToJson(value)
+    } else {
+      failed[locales[index]] = value
+    }
+  })
+  await Promise.all(
+    Object.entries(succeeded).map((args) => writeLocaleFile(...args))
+  )
+
+  return [Object.keys(succeeded).length, Object.keys(failed).length]
+}
+
+const separateDownload = async () => {
+  console.log("Performing parallel download.")
+
+  const localeJson = require("./wp-locales.json")
+  const locales = Object.values(localeJson).map((item) => item.slug)
+  const [succeeded, failed] = await fetchJed1xAll(locales)
+
+  console.log(`Successfully downloaded ${succeeded} translations.`)
+  if (failed) {
+    console.log(`Failed to download ${failed} translations.`)
+    throw new Error("Parallel download partially failed")
+  }
+}
+
+module.exports = separateDownload
diff --git a/src/locales/scripts/utils.js b/src/locales/scripts/utils.js
index 2efa74c861..f4943825b2 100644
--- a/src/locales/scripts/utils.js
+++ b/src/locales/scripts/utils.js
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+const { writeFile } = require("fs/promises")
+const os = require("os")
+
 /**
  * Mutates an object at the path with the value. If the path
  * does not exist, it is created by nesting objects along the
@@ -19,3 +22,40 @@ exports.setToValue = function setValue(obj, path, value) {
   }
   o[a[0]] = value
 }
+
+/**
+ * Replace ###<text>### with {<text>}.
+ *
+ * @param json {any} - the JSON object to replace placeholders in
+ * @return {any} the sanitised JSON object
+ */
+const replacePlaceholders = (json) => {
+  if (json === null) {
+    return null
+  }
+  if (typeof json === "string") {
+    return json.replace(/###([a-zA-Z-]*)###/g, "{$1}")
+  }
+  let currentJson = { ...json }
+
+  for (const row of Object.entries(currentJson)) {
+    let [key, value] = row
+    currentJson[key] = replacePlaceholders(value)
+  }
+  return currentJson
+}
+
+exports.replacePlaceholders = replacePlaceholders
+
+/**
+ * Write translation strings to a file in the locale directory
+ * @param {string} locale
+ * @param {any} rawTranslations
+ */
+exports.writeLocaleFile = (locale, rawTranslations) => {
+  const translations = replacePlaceholders(rawTranslations)
+  return writeFile(
+    process.cwd() + `/src/locales/${locale}.json`,
+    JSON.stringify(translations, null, 2) + os.EOL
+  )
+}