diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f2953c622..bc5cb22cf 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -58,7 +58,11 @@ ROOT_DATA_FILES := $(shell find data -type f $(FIND_ARGS))
 MODULE_DATA_FILES := $(shell find $(wildcard plinth/modules/*/data) -type f $(FIND_ARGS))
 
 update-translations:
-	cd plinth; $(DJANGO_ADMIN) makemessages --all --domain django --keep-pot --verbosity=1
+	$(DJANGO_ADMIN) makemessages --all --domain django --keep-pot \
+		--verbosity=1 --ignore conftest.py --ignore doc --ignore build \
+		--ignore htmlcov --ignore screenshots --ignore debian --ignore \
+		actions --ignore preseed --ignore static --ignore data \
+		--settings plinth.settings --pythonpath .
 
 configure:
 	# Nothing to do
diff --git a/plinth/settings.py b/plinth/settings.py
index 61862f668..8a192425a 100644
--- a/plinth/settings.py
+++ b/plinth/settings.py
@@ -135,6 +135,9 @@ IPWARE_META_PRECEDENCE_ORDER = ('REMOTE_ADDR', )
 # Overridden by get_languages()
 LANGUAGES = [('en', 'English')]
 
+# A list of directories where Django looks for translation files.
+LOCALE_PATHS = ['plinth/locale']
+
 # Overridden by log configuration in log.py
 LOGGING = {'version': 1}