diff --git a/Koha/ItemType.pm b/Koha/ItemType.pm
index 99c072852a..48df808dc7 100644
--- a/Koha/ItemType.pm
+++ b/Koha/ItemType.pm
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ sub translated_description {
         entity => 'itemtypes',
         lang => $lang
     })->next;
-    return $translated_description || $self->description;
+    return $translated_description
+         ? $translated_description->translation
+         : $self->description;
 }
 
 =head3 translated_descriptions