diff --git a/data/locales.json b/data/locales.json
index d7b95f1c5..4b1041a23 100644
--- a/data/locales.json
+++ b/data/locales.json
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
             "rtl": false
         },
         "ckb": {
-            "rtl": false
+            "rtl": true
         },
         "cs": {
             "rtl": false
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@
             "rtl": false
         },
         "ku": {
-            "rtl": true
+            "rtl": false
         },
         "lij": {
             "rtl": false
diff --git a/data/update_locales.js b/data/update_locales.js
index e464cf99e..c89391921 100644
--- a/data/update_locales.js
+++ b/data/update_locales.js
@@ -51,7 +51,14 @@ asyncMap(resources, getResource, function(err, locales) {
                 obj[code] = locale[code];
                 fs.writeFileSync(outdir + code + '.json', JSON.stringify(obj, null, 4));
                 getLanguageInfo(code, function(err, info) {
-                    dataLocales[code] = { rtl: info && info.rtl };
+                    var rtl = info && info.rtl;
+                    // exceptions: see #4783
+                    if (code === 'ckb') {
+                        rtl = true;
+                    } else if (code === 'ku') {
+                        rtl = false;
+                    }
+                    dataLocales[code] = { rtl: rtl };
                     done();
                 });
             }