diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 50c399eab0..544941d7ce 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -148,6 +148,10 @@ cdata.set('PACKAGE_VERSION', '"@0@"'.format(gst_version))
 cdata.set('GST_LICENSE', '"LGPL"')
 cdata.set('PACKAGE', '"gst-plugins-good"')
 cdata.set('GETTEXT_PACKAGE', '"gst-plugins-good-1.0"')
+cdata.set_quoted('LOCALEDIR', join_paths(get_option('prefix'), get_option('localedir')))
+if get_option('nls')
+  cdata.set('ENABLE_NLS', 1)
+endif
 
 warning_flags = [
   '-Wmissing-declarations',
@@ -371,7 +375,7 @@ subdir('tests')
 subdir('pkgconfig')
 
 # xgettext is optional (on Windows for instance)
-if find_program('xgettext', required : false).found()
+if get_option('nls') and find_program('xgettext', required : false).found()
   subdir('po')
 endif
 
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index af0f53ed2d..a7266e8862 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ option('libv4l2', type : 'boolean', value : true,
        description : 'Use libv4l2 for some obscure format conversions')
 
 # Common options
+option('nls', type : 'boolean', value : true, yield: true,
+        description : 'Enable native language support (translations)')
 option('orc', type : 'combo', choices : ['yes', 'no', 'auto'], value : 'auto')
 option('package-name', type : 'string', yield : true,
        description : 'package name to use in plugins')