diff --git a/extensions/wikidata/module/scripts/dialogs/schema-alignment-dialog.js b/extensions/wikidata/module/scripts/dialogs/schema-alignment-dialog.js
index cac6f44a5..61095fd24 100644
--- a/extensions/wikidata/module/scripts/dialogs/schema-alignment-dialog.js
+++ b/extensions/wikidata/module/scripts/dialogs/schema-alignment-dialog.js
@@ -301,6 +301,7 @@ SchemaAlignmentDialog._addNameDesc = function(item, json) {
   .attr('value', 'ALIAS')
   .text('Alias')
   .appendTo(type_input);
+  type_input.val(type);
 
   var toolbar = $('<div></div>').addClass('wbs-toolbar').appendTo(namedesc);
   $('<img src="images/close.png" />').attr('alt', 'remove name/description').click(function() {
@@ -317,10 +318,10 @@ SchemaAlignmentDialog._nameDescToJSON = function (namedesc) {
   var type = namedesc.find('select').first().val();
   var value = namedesc.find('.wbs-namedesc-value').first().data("jsonValue");
   return {
-    type: "wbnamedescexpr",    
+    type: "wbnamedescexpr",    
     name_type: type,
     value: value,
-  }
+  };
 }
   
 
@@ -551,7 +552,7 @@ SchemaAlignmentDialog._getPropertyType = function(pid, callback) {
         props: "datatype",
      },
      dataType: "jsonp",
-     success: function(data) {
+     success: function(data) {
         callback(data.entities[pid].datatype);
      }});
 }
@@ -884,7 +885,7 @@ $.suggest("langsuggest", {
       success: function(data) {
          self.response(self.convertResults(data));
       },
-      dataType: "jsonp",
+      dataType: "jsonp",
      };
     $.ajax(ajax_options); 
   },
diff --git a/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/exporters/QuickStatementsExporter.java b/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/exporters/QuickStatementsExporter.java
index 9354e3c5f..93067c98f 100644
--- a/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/exporters/QuickStatementsExporter.java
+++ b/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/exporters/QuickStatementsExporter.java
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ public class QuickStatementsExporter implements WriterExporter {
         if (item.getItemId().getId() == "Q0") {
             writer.write("CREATE\n");
             qid = "LAST";
+            item.normalizeLabelsAndAliases();
         }
         
         translateNameDescr(qid, item.getLabels(), "L", item.getItemId(), writer);
diff --git a/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/ItemUpdate.java b/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/ItemUpdate.java
index 172fe328e..404813459 100644
--- a/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/ItemUpdate.java
+++ b/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/ItemUpdate.java
@@ -156,4 +156,28 @@ public class ItemUpdate {
         }
         return map;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * This should only be used when creating a new item.
+     * This ensures that we never add an alias without adding
+     * a label in the same language.
+     */
+    public void normalizeLabelsAndAliases() {
+        // Ensure that we are only adding aliases with labels
+        List<String> labelLanguages = new ArrayList<String>();
+        for(MonolingualTextValue label : labels) {
+            labelLanguages.add(label.getLanguageCode());
+        }
+
+        List<MonolingualTextValue> filteredAliases = new ArrayList<>();
+        for(MonolingualTextValue alias : aliases) {
+            if(!labelLanguages.contains(alias.getLanguageCode())) {
+                labelLanguages.add(alias.getLanguageCode());
+                labels.add(alias);
+            } else {
+                filteredAliases.add(alias);
+            }
+        }
+        aliases = filteredAliases;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/WbLanguageExpr.java b/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/WbLanguageExpr.java
index 23fd2ab11..4945b34e8 100644
--- a/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/WbLanguageExpr.java
+++ b/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/WbLanguageExpr.java
@@ -23,8 +23,10 @@ public abstract class WbLanguageExpr extends BiJsonizable {
         String type = obj.getString(jsonTypeKey);
         if (WbLanguageConstant.jsonType.equals(type)) {
             return WbLanguageConstant.fromJSON(obj);
+        } else if (WbLanguageVariable.jsonType.equals(type)) {
+            return WbLanguageVariable.fromJSON(obj);
         } else {
-            throw new JSONException("unknown type for WbLocationExpr");
+            throw new JSONException("unknown type for WbLanguageExpr");
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/WbNameDescExpr.java b/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/WbNameDescExpr.java
index 465ec4222..76906e6f1 100644
--- a/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/WbNameDescExpr.java
+++ b/extensions/wikidata/src/org/openrefine/wikidata/schema/WbNameDescExpr.java
@@ -35,18 +35,22 @@ public class WbNameDescExpr extends BiJsonizable {
         _value.write(writer, options);
     }
     
-    public void contributeTo(ItemUpdate item, ExpressionContext ctxt) throws SkipStatementException {
-        MonolingualTextValue val = _value.evaluate(ctxt);
-        switch (_type) {
-            case LABEL:
-                item.addLabel(val);
-                break;
-            case DESCRIPTION:
-                item.addDescription(val);
-                break;
-            case ALIAS:
-                item.addAlias(val);
-                break;
+    public void contributeTo(ItemUpdate item, ExpressionContext ctxt) {
+        try {
+            MonolingualTextValue val = _value.evaluate(ctxt);
+            switch (_type) {
+                case LABEL:
+                    item.addLabel(val);
+                    break;
+                case DESCRIPTION:
+                    item.addDescription(val);
+                    break;
+                case ALIAS:
+                    item.addAlias(val);
+                    break;
+            }
+        } catch (SkipStatementException e) {
+            return;
         }
     }