diff --git a/packages/core/src/render3/i18n.ts b/packages/core/src/render3/i18n.ts
index 67c1e7d1ed..350b1a4f28 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/render3/i18n.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/render3/i18n.ts
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@
  */
 
 import {assertEqual, assertLessThan} from './assert';
-import {NO_CHANGE, bindingUpdated, createLNode, getPreviousOrParentNode, getRenderer, getViewData, load} from './instructions';
+import {NO_CHANGE, bindingUpdated, createLNode, getPreviousOrParentNode, getRenderer, getViewData, load, resetApplicationState} from './instructions';
 import {RENDER_PARENT} from './interfaces/container';
 import {LContainerNode, LElementNode, LNode, TNodeType} from './interfaces/node';
-import {BINDING_INDEX} from './interfaces/view';
+import {BINDING_INDEX, HEADER_OFFSET, TVIEW} from './interfaces/view';
 import {appendChild, createTextNode, getParentLNode, removeChild} from './node_manipulation';
 import {stringify} from './util';
 
@@ -240,10 +240,16 @@ function appendI18nNode(node: LNode, parentNode: LNode, previousNode: LNode) {
 
   appendChild(parentNode, node.native || null, viewData);
 
-  if (previousNode === parentNode && parentNode.pChild === null) {
-    parentNode.pChild = node;
-  } else {
-    previousNode.pNextOrParent = node;
+  // On first pass, re-organize node tree to put this node in the correct position.
+  if (node.view[TVIEW].firstTemplatePass) {
+    node.tNode.next = null;
+    if (previousNode === parentNode && node.tNode !== parentNode.tNode.child) {
+      node.tNode.next = parentNode.tNode.child;
+      parentNode.tNode.child = node.tNode;
+    } else if (previousNode !== parentNode && node.tNode !== previousNode.tNode.next) {
+      node.tNode.next = previousNode.tNode.next;
+      previousNode.tNode.next = node.tNode;
+    }
   }
 
   // Template containers also have a comment node for the `ViewContainerRef` that should be moved
@@ -278,6 +284,7 @@ export function i18nApply(startIndex: number, instructions: I18nInstruction[]):
   const renderer = getRenderer();
   let localParentNode: LNode = getParentLNode(load(startIndex)) || getPreviousOrParentNode();
   let localPreviousNode: LNode = localParentNode;
+  resetApplicationState();  // We don't want to add to the tree with the wrong previous node
 
   for (let i = 0; i < instructions.length; i++) {
     const instruction = instructions[i] as number;
@@ -298,10 +305,12 @@ export function i18nApply(startIndex: number, instructions: I18nInstruction[]):
         const value = instructions[++i];
         const textRNode = createTextNode(value, renderer);
         // If we were to only create a `RNode` then projections won't move the text.
-        // But since this text doesn't have an index in `LViewData`, we need to create an
-        // `LElementNode` with the index -1 so that it isn't saved in `LViewData`
-        const textLNode = createLNode(-1, TNodeType.Element, textRNode, null, null);
+        // Create text node at the current end of viewData. Must subtract header offset because
+        // createLNode takes a raw index (not adjusted by header offset).
+        const textLNode =
+            createLNode(viewData.length - HEADER_OFFSET, TNodeType.Element, textRNode, null, null);
         localPreviousNode = appendI18nNode(textLNode, localParentNode, localPreviousNode);
+        resetApplicationState();
         break;
       case I18nInstructions.CloseNode:
         localPreviousNode = localParentNode;
diff --git a/packages/core/src/render3/instructions.ts b/packages/core/src/render3/instructions.ts
index a1013eff9b..208e91d740 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/render3/instructions.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/render3/instructions.ts
@@ -335,8 +335,7 @@ export function createLNodeObject(
     queries: queries,
     tNode: null !,
     pNextOrParent: null,
-    dynamicLContainerNode: null,
-    pChild: null,
+    dynamicLContainerNode: null
   };
 }
 
@@ -440,7 +439,7 @@ export function createLNode(
 /**
  * Resets the application state.
  */
-function resetApplicationState() {
+export function resetApplicationState() {
   isParent = false;
   previousOrParentNode = null !;
 }
@@ -1894,16 +1893,7 @@ export function projectionDef(
   }
 
   const componentNode: LElementNode = findComponentHost(viewData);
-  let isProjectingI18nNodes = false;
-  let componentChild: LNode|null;
-  // for i18n translations we use pChild to point to the next child
-  // TODO(kara): Remove when removing LNodes
-  if (componentNode.pChild) {
-    isProjectingI18nNodes = true;
-    componentChild = componentNode.pChild;
-  } else {
-    componentChild = getChildLNode(componentNode);
-  }
+  let componentChild = getChildLNode(componentNode);
 
   while (componentChild !== null) {
     // execute selector matching logic if and only if:
@@ -1916,11 +1906,7 @@ export function projectionDef(
       distributedNodes[0].push(componentChild);
     }
 
-    if (isProjectingI18nNodes) {
-      componentChild = componentChild.pNextOrParent;
-    } else {
-      componentChild = getNextLNode(componentChild);
-    }
+    componentChild = getNextLNode(componentChild);
   }
 
   ngDevMode && assertDataNext(index + HEADER_OFFSET);
diff --git a/packages/core/src/render3/interfaces/node.ts b/packages/core/src/render3/interfaces/node.ts
index f75ca24ce1..9194bb547b 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/render3/interfaces/node.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/render3/interfaces/node.ts
@@ -100,13 +100,6 @@ export interface LNode {
    */
   pNextOrParent: LNode|null;
 
-  /**
-   * If this node is part of an i18n block, pointer to the first child after translation
-   * If this node is not part of an i18n block, this field is null.
-   */
-  // TODO(kara): Remove this when removing pNextOrParent
-  pChild: LNode|null;
-
   /**
    * Pointer to the corresponding TNode object, which stores static
    * data about this node.
diff --git a/packages/core/src/render3/node_manipulation.ts b/packages/core/src/render3/node_manipulation.ts
index 4806de5499..d577a15c9b 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/render3/node_manipulation.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/render3/node_manipulation.ts
@@ -29,9 +29,6 @@ export function getNextLNode(node: LNode): LNode|null {
 
 /** Retrieves the first child of a given node */
 export function getChildLNode(node: LNode): LNode|null {
-  if (node.pChild) {
-    return node.pChild;
-  }
   if (node.tNode.child) {
     const viewData = node.tNode.type === TNodeType.View ? node.data as LViewData : node.view;
     return viewData[node.tNode.child.index];
diff --git a/packages/core/test/render3/i18n_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/render3/i18n_spec.ts
index b83f5080f3..98cbf07b3c 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/render3/i18n_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/render3/i18n_spec.ts
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ describe('Runtime i18n', () => {
 
           // Translated to:
           // <ul i18n>
-          //   <li *ngFor="let item of items">valeur: {{item}}</li>
+          //   <li *ngFor="let item of items">valeur: {{item}}!</li>
           // </ul>
           template: (rf: RenderFlags, myApp: MyApp) => {
             if (rf & RenderFlags.Create) {