Description of the need While working on https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues/issues/3979 I realized that the updater throws exceptions at an early stage of the process, when there's nothing broken (yet).
This might be confusing for admins, especially Backdrop novices, because an exception usually means, something's broken really badly. And that's not the case at that early stage of updating (files got downloaded and extracted, the install itself is untouched).

Doesn't this look like this Backdrop install is broken? It isn't.
Proposed solution If nothing's actually broken, it might be better to abort the update and show a helpful message. Log detailed information, possibly with links to documentation. We also need to consider that updating happens in batches. The fact that one project fails, doesn't mean all of them fail. (But that needs some more recherche...)
Alternatives that have been considered Sticking with UpdaterExeptions.
Recent comments
There is a Drupal 7 contrib module that "lets the administrator see all administration pages in her preferred language" and which could be ported to Backdrop: https://www.drupal.org/project/...
Allow admin to select admin language seperate from front end language (multilingual)
@stpaultim – You're right: my approach affects also the main menu. I guess, because menus are also considered as user interface (not as content). @findlabnet – If I didn't miss anything,...
Allow admin to select admin language seperate from front end language (multilingual)
Go to the account edit of the desired user. On the horizontal tab below "Region and Language," select "English" or another language. WFM.
Allow admin to select admin language seperate from front end language (multilingual)