diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/ContentEntityBase.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/ContentEntityBase.php
index e242544..66d2647 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/ContentEntityBase.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/ContentEntityBase.php
@@ -259,6 +259,23 @@ public function postCreate(EntityStorageInterface $storage) {
   /**
    * {@inheritdoc}
    */
+  public static function postLoad(EntityStorageInterface $storage, array &$entities) {
+    $entity_load_langcode = \Drupal::configFactory()->get('system.site')->get('entity_load_langcode');
+    if ($entity_load_langcode == LanguageInterface::TYPE_CONTENT) {
+      $langcode = \Drupal::languageManager()->getCurrentLanguage($entity_load_langcode)->getId();
+      /** @var \Drupal\Core\Entity\ContentEntityBase $entity */
+      foreach ($entities as $entity) {
+        if ($entity->hasTranslation($langcode)) {
+          $entity->activeLangcode = $langcode;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    parent::postLoad($storage, $entities);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
   public function setNewRevision($value = TRUE) {
     if (!$this->getEntityType()->hasKey('revision')) {
       throw new \LogicException("Entity type {$this->getEntityTypeId()} does not support revisions.");
diff --git a/core/modules/system/config/install/system.site.yml b/core/modules/system/config/install/system.site.yml
index b5a932b..600a953 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/config/install/system.site.yml
+++ b/core/modules/system/config/install/system.site.yml
@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ admin_compact_mode: false
 weight_select_max: 100
 langcode: en
 default_langcode: en
+entity_load_langcode: 'x-default'
diff --git a/core/modules/system/config/schema/system.schema.yml b/core/modules/system/config/schema/system.schema.yml
index c23ed7e..464f0a7 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/config/schema/system.schema.yml
+++ b/core/modules/system/config/schema/system.schema.yml
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ system.site:
     default_langcode:
       type: string
       label: 'Site default language code'
+    entity_load_langcode:
+      type: string
+      label: 'The language type for which to load entities by default'
     mail_notification:
       type: string
       label: 'Notification email address'
diff --git a/core/modules/system/system.install b/core/modules/system/system.install
index 6dc2663..47f0593 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/system.install
+++ b/core/modules/system/system.install
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 use Drupal\Core\Url;
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Database;
 use Drupal\Core\DrupalKernel;
+use Drupal\Core\Language\LanguageInterface;
 use Drupal\Core\Site\Settings;
 use Drupal\Core\StreamWrapper\PrivateStream;
 use Drupal\Core\StreamWrapper\PublicStream;
@@ -1794,3 +1795,19 @@ function system_update_8203() {
     ->set('logging', 1)
     ->save(TRUE);
 }
+
+/**
+ * @addtogroup updates-8.3.0
+ * @{
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Add the new system site setting "entity_load_langcode".
+ */
+function system_update_8300() {
+  \Drupal::configFactory()->getEditable('system.site')->set('entity_load_langcode', LanguageInterface::LANGCODE_DEFAULT)->save(TRUE);
+}
+
+/**
+ * @} End of "addtogroup updates-8.3.0".
+ */
diff --git a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTranslationTest.php b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTranslationTest.php
index ed6140d..36ff690 100644
--- a/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTranslationTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/KernelTests/Core/Entity/EntityTranslationTest.php
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 use Drupal\Component\Utility\SafeMarkup;
 use Drupal\Core\Language\LanguageInterface;
 use Drupal\Core\TypedData\TranslationStatusInterface;
+use Drupal\entity_test\Entity\EntityTestMul;
 use Drupal\entity_test\Entity\EntityTestMulRev;
 use Drupal\field\Entity\FieldConfig;
 use Drupal\field\Entity\FieldStorageConfig;
@@ -1013,4 +1014,71 @@ public function testTranslationStatus() {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Tests the translation of the loaded entity.
+   */
+  public function testEntityLoadLanguage() {
+    // Test the default behavior, where the entity is loaded in its default
+    // translation.
+    $count = count($this->langcodes);
+    for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) {
+      $default_langcode = $this->langcodes[$i];
+      $entity = EntityTestMul::create([
+        'name' => $this->randomString(),
+        'langcode' => $default_langcode,
+      ]);
+      $entity->save();
+
+      foreach ($this->langcodes as $langcode) {
+        if ($langcode != $default_langcode) {
+          $entity->addTranslation($langcode);
+        }
+      }
+      $entity->save();
+
+      $entity = \Drupal::entityTypeManager()->getStorage($entity->getEntityTypeId())->loadUnchanged($entity->id());
+      $this->assertEquals($entity->getUntranslated()->language()->getId(), $entity->language()->getId());
+    }
+
+    // Test the new behavior, where the entity is loaded in the current content
+    // language.
+    \Drupal::configFactory()->getEditable('system.site')->set('entity_load_langcode', LanguageInterface::TYPE_CONTENT)->save(TRUE);
+    $default_content_langcode = $this->languageManager->getCurrentLanguage(LanguageInterface::TYPE_CONTENT)->getId();
+
+    // Test when the entity has a translation for the current content language.
+    $default_langcode = NULL;
+    foreach ($this->langcodes as $langcode) {
+      $default_langcode = $langcode != $default_content_langcode ? $langcode : $default_langcode;
+    }
+
+    $entity = EntityTestMul::create([
+      'name' => $this->randomString(),
+      'langcode' => $default_langcode,
+    ]);
+    $entity->save();
+    $entity->addTranslation($default_content_langcode)
+      ->save();
+
+    $entity = \Drupal::entityTypeManager()->getStorage($entity->getEntityTypeId())->loadUnchanged($entity->id());
+    $this->assertEquals($default_content_langcode, $entity->language()->getId());
+
+    // Test when the entity doesn't have a translation for the current content
+    // language.
+    $langcodes = array_diff($this->langcodes, [$default_content_langcode]);
+
+    $entity = EntityTestMul::create([
+      'name' => $this->randomString(),
+      'langcode' => $langcodes[0],
+    ]);
+    $entity->save();
+
+    for ($i = 1; $i < count($langcodes); $i++) {
+      $entity->addTranslation($langcodes[$i]);
+    }
+    $entity->save();
+
+    $entity = \Drupal::entityTypeManager()->getStorage($entity->getEntityTypeId())->loadUnchanged($entity->id());
+    $this->assertEquals($entity->getUntranslated()->language()->getId(), $entity->language()->getId());
+  }
+
 }