diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 62623ee16..bb5001f85 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ options: all
 	tools/opt_types.sh ejabberd_option $(EBINDIR)
 
 translations:
-	tools/prepare-tr.sh
+	tools/prepare-tr.sh $(DEPSDIR)
 
 edoc:
 	$(ERL) -noinput +B -eval \
diff --git a/tools/prepare-tr.sh b/tools/prepare-tr.sh
index 35c406e39..1eeaaa64c 100755
--- a/tools/prepare-tr.sh
+++ b/tools/prepare-tr.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 extract_lang_src2pot ()
 {
-	./tools/extract-tr.sh src deps/xmpp/src > $PO_DIR/ejabberd.pot
+	./tools/extract-tr.sh src $DEPS_DIR/xmpp/src > $PO_DIR/ejabberd.pot
 }
 
 extract_lang_popot2po ()
@@ -103,19 +103,16 @@ extract_lang_updateall ()
 
 EJA_DIR=`pwd`
 PROJECT=ejabberd
+DEPS_DIR=$1
 MSGS_DIR=$EJA_DIR/priv/msgs
 LOG=/tmp/ejabberd-translate-errors.log
-if [ -f $EJA_DIR/deps/ejabberd_po/src/ejabberd.pot ]; then
-    PO_DIR=$EJA_DIR/deps/ejabberd_po/src/
-else
-    if [ -f $EJA_DIR/_build/default/lib/ejabberd_po/src/ejabberd.pot ]; then
-        PO_DIR=$EJA_DIR/_build/default/lib/ejabberd_po/src
-    else
-        echo "Couldn't find the required ejabberd_po repository."
-        echo "Run: ./configure --enable-tools; ./rebar get-deps"
-        exit 1
-    fi
+PO_DIR=$EJA_DIR/$DEPS_DIR/ejabberd_po/src/
+if [ ! -f $EJA_DIR/$DEPS_DIR/ejabberd_po/src/ejabberd.pot ]; then
+    echo "Couldn't find the required ejabberd_po repository in"
+    echo "  $PO_DIR"
+    echo "Run: ./configure --enable-tools; ./rebar get-deps"
+    exit 1
 fi
-echo "Using PO files found in $PO_DIR."
+echo "Using PO files from $PO_DIR."
 
 extract_lang_updateall