diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0422adf44..358ea3bd7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -32,4 +32,6 @@ test/testdata
 .tox
 youtube-dl.zsh
 .idea
-.idea/*
\ No newline at end of file
+.idea/*
+*.mo
+*.po.old
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f826c1685..13378fbf9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ offlinetest: codetest
 
 tar: youtube-dl.tar.gz
 
-.PHONY: all clean install test tar bash-completion pypi-files zsh-completion fish-completion ot offlinetest codetest supportedsites
+.PHONY: all clean install test tar bash-completion pypi-files zsh-completion fish-completion ot offlinetest codetest supportedsites update-po update-gmo
 
 pypi-files: youtube-dl.bash-completion README.txt youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.fish
 
@@ -109,3 +109,21 @@ youtube-dl.tar.gz: youtube-dl README.md README.txt youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-
 		Makefile MANIFEST.in youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion \
 		youtube-dl.zsh youtube-dl.fish setup.py \
 		youtube-dl
+
+update-po: po/youtube_dl.pot
+	for file in po/*.po ; do \
+		lang=$$(echo $$file | sed -e 's#.*/\([^/]\+\).po#\1#') ; \
+		mv $$file $$file.old ; \
+		msgmerge -N $$file.old po/youtube_dl.pot > $$file ; \
+	done
+
+po/youtube_dl.pot: youtube_dl/*.py youtube_dl/*/*.py
+	touch po/youtube_dl.pot && \
+		xgettext -d youtube_dl -j -k -kg --from-code=utf-8 -o $@ youtube_dl/*.py youtube_dl/*/*.py
+
+update-gmo:
+	for file in po/*.po ; do \
+		lang=$$(echo $$file | sed -e 's#.*/\([^/]\+\).po#\1#') ; \
+		install -d share/locale/$$lang/LC_MESSAGES; \
+		msgfmt -o share/locale/$$lang/LC_MESSAGES/youtube_dl.mo $$file; \
+	done
diff --git a/youtube_dl/utils.py b/youtube_dl/utils.py
index d0606b4bc..ef034eb9b 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/utils.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/utils.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import datetime
 import email.utils
 import errno
 import functools
+import gettext
 import gzip
 import itertools
 import io
@@ -2512,6 +2513,14 @@ class ISO3166Utils(object):
         return cls._country_map.get(code.upper())
 
 
+def g(s):
+    if gettext.textdomain() != 'youtube_dl':
+        gettext.textdomain('youtube_dl')
+        gettext.bindtextdomain('youtube_dl', localedir='share/locale/')
+
+    return gettext.gettext(s)
+
+
 class PerRequestProxyHandler(compat_urllib_request.ProxyHandler):
     def __init__(self, proxies=None):
         # Set default handlers