diff --git a/horizons/i18n/__init__.py b/horizons/i18n/__init__.py
index 75248252b32..cc84bec663a 100644
--- a/horizons/i18n/__init__.py
+++ b/horizons/i18n/__init__.py
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ def change_language(language=None):
 			trans.install(unicode=True, names=['ngettext',])
 		except IOError:
 			#xgettext:python-format
-			print _("Configured language {lang} could not be loaded.").format(lang=language)
+			print "Configured language {lang} could not be loaded.".format(lang=language)
 			horizons.main.fife.set_uh_setting('Language', LANGUAGENAMES[''])
 			return change_language() # recurse
 	else:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 88cb86db44e..3468ded3f0e 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -87,10 +87,13 @@ def run(self):
 			return
 		po_files = glob.glob("%s/*.po" % self.po_dir)
 		if len(po_files) and not find_executable('msgfmt'):
-			self.warn("Can't generate language files, needs msgfmt. Only native language (english) will be available")
+			self.warn("Can't generate language files, needs msgfmt. "
+				"Only native language (English) will be available. "
+				"Try installing the package 'gettext' or 'msgfmt'.")
 			return
 		if len(self.desktop_files) and not find_executable('intltool-merge'):
-			self.warn("Can't generate desktop files, needs intltool-merge")
+			self.warn("Can't generate desktop files, needs intltool-merge. "
+				"Try installing the package 'intltool'.")
 			return
 
 		data_files = self.distribution.data_files