diff --git a/pyfpdb/interlocks.py b/pyfpdb/interlocks.py
index c3794325..3f358019 100755
--- a/pyfpdb/interlocks.py
+++ b/pyfpdb/interlocks.py
@@ -10,6 +10,18 @@ import time
 import signal
 import base64
 
+import locale
+lang=locale.getdefaultlocale()[0][0:2]
+if lang=="en":
+    def _(string): return string
+else:
+    import gettext
+    try:
+        trans = gettext.translation("fpdb", localedir="locale", languages=[lang])
+        trans.install()
+    except IOError:
+        def _(string): return string
+
 InterProcessLock = None
 
 """