diff --git a/core/modules/locale/lib/Drupal/locale/Tests/LocalePluralFormatTest.php b/core/modules/locale/lib/Drupal/locale/Tests/LocalePluralFormatTest.php
index a5ed01ba28cc9db30305f2a32a1fe5004ddd77f1..589b210199742aa7bf7f92ff29cd25d6dff06db3 100644
--- a/core/modules/locale/lib/Drupal/locale/Tests/LocalePluralFormatTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/locale/lib/Drupal/locale/Tests/LocalePluralFormatTest.php
@@ -86,8 +86,8 @@ function testGetPluralFormat() {
       // English, but it will always pick the plural form as per the built-in
       // logic, so only index -1 is relevant with the plural value.
       'hu' => array(
-        0 => '1 hour',
-        -1 => '@count hours',
+        0 => "\xE2\x80\xAA1 hour\xE2\x80\xAC",
+        -1 => "\xE2\x80\xAA@count hours\xE2\x80\xAC",
       ),
     );
 
diff --git a/core/modules/locale/locale.module b/core/modules/locale/locale.module
index 75e0a223c4db270b0d4f70d21acee7377a60d75c..54346e70d2819af7e4ca8ffb96bf264029c7cb14 100644
--- a/core/modules/locale/locale.module
+++ b/core/modules/locale/locale.module
@@ -142,6 +142,16 @@
 const LOCALE_TRANSLATION_IMPORTED = 'import';
 
 /**
+ * Invisible code character U+202A for left-to-right text.
+ */
+const LOCALE_LEFT_TO_RIGHT_MARK = "\xE2\x80\xAA";
+
+/**
+ * Invisible code character U+202C to pop last text directionality.
+ */
+const LOCALE_POP_DIRECTION_MARK = "\xE2\x80\xAC";
+
+/**
  * Implements hook_help().
  */
 function locale_help($path, $arg) {
@@ -396,7 +406,13 @@ function locale($string = NULL, $context = NULL, $langcode = NULL) {
   if (!isset($locale_t[$langcode][$context]) && isset($language_interface)) {
     $locale_t[$langcode][$context] = new LocaleLookup($langcode, $context, locale_storage());
   }
-  return ($locale_t[$langcode][$context][$string] === TRUE ? $string : $locale_t[$langcode][$context][$string]);
+
+
+  if ($locale_t[$langcode][$context][$string] === TRUE) {
+    return LOCALE_LEFT_TO_RIGHT_MARK . str_replace(LOCALE_PLURAL_DELIMITER, LOCALE_POP_DIRECTION_MARK . LOCALE_PLURAL_DELIMITER . LOCALE_LEFT_TO_RIGHT_MARK, $string) . LOCALE_POP_DIRECTION_MARK;
+  }
+
+  return $locale_t[$langcode][$context][$string];
 }
 
 /**