diff -Nru vdr-1.5.13/i18n.c vdr-1.5.13-localedir/i18n.c
--- vdr-1.5.13/i18n.c	2007-11-01 11:38:27.000000000 +0100
+++ vdr-1.5.13-localedir/i18n.c	2008-01-20 19:46:56.000000000 +0100
@@ -100,8 +100,10 @@
   ++_nl_msg_cat_cntr;
 }
 
-void I18nInitialize(void)
+void I18nInitialize(const char *LocaleDir)
 {
+  if (LocaleDir)
+     I18nLocaleDir = LocaleDir;
   LanguageLocales.Append(strdup(I18N_DEFAULT_LOCALE));
   LanguageNames.Append(strdup(SkipContext(LanguageName)));
   LanguageCodes.Append(strdup(LanguageCodeList[0]));
diff -Nru vdr-1.5.13/i18n.h vdr-1.5.13-localedir/i18n.h
--- vdr-1.5.13/i18n.h	2007-08-24 15:35:18.000000000 +0200
+++ vdr-1.5.13-localedir/i18n.h	2008-01-20 19:47:33.000000000 +0100
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@
 #define I18N_MAX_LOCALE_LEN 16       // for buffers that hold en_US etc.
 #define I18N_MAX_LANGUAGES  256      // for buffers that hold all available languages
 
-void I18nInitialize(void);
+void I18nInitialize(const char *LocaleDir = NULL);
    ///< Detects all available locales and loads the language names and codes.
+   ///< If LocaleDir is given, it must point to a static string that lives
+   ///< for the entire lifetime of the program.
 void I18nRegister(const char *Plugin);
    ///< Registers the named plugin, so that it can use internationalized texts.
 void I18nSetLocale(const char *Locale);
diff -Nru vdr-1.5.13/vdr.c vdr-1.5.13-localedir/vdr.c
--- vdr-1.5.13/vdr.c	2008-01-13 12:51:53.000000000 +0100
+++ vdr-1.5.13-localedir/vdr.c	2008-01-20 19:50:23.000000000 +0100
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@
   bool MuteAudio = false;
   int WatchdogTimeout = DEFAULTWATCHDOG;
   const char *Terminal = NULL;
+  const char *LocaleDir = NULL;
 
   bool UseKbd = true;
   const char *LircDevice = NULL;
@@ -229,6 +230,7 @@
       { "help",     no_argument,       NULL, 'h' },
       { "lib",      required_argument, NULL, 'L' },
       { "lirc",     optional_argument, NULL, 'l' | 0x100 },
+      { "localedir",required_argument, NULL, 'l' | 0x200 },
       { "log",      required_argument, NULL, 'l' },
       { "mute",     no_argument,       NULL, 'm' },
       { "no-kbd",   no_argument,       NULL, 'n' | 0x100 },
@@ -306,6 +308,14 @@
           case 'l' | 0x100:
                     LircDevice = optarg ? optarg : LIRC_DEVICE;
                     break;
+          case 'l' | 0x200:
+                    if (access(optarg, R_OK | X_OK) == 0)
+                       LocaleDir = optarg;
+                    else {
+                       fprintf(stderr, "vdr: can't access locale directory: %s\n", optarg);
+                       return 2;
+                       }
+                    break;
           case 'm': MuteAudio = true;
                     break;
           case 'n' | 0x100:
@@ -407,6 +417,8 @@
                "  -L DIR,   --lib=DIR      search for plugins in DIR (default is %s)\n"
                "            --lirc[=PATH]  use a LIRC remote control device, attached to PATH\n"
                "                           (default: %s)\n"
+               "            --localedir=DIR search for locale files in DIR (default is\n"
+               "                           %s)\n"
                "  -m,       --mute         mute audio of the primary DVB device at startup\n"
                "            --no-kbd       don't use the keyboard as an input device\n"
                "  -p PORT,  --port=PORT    use PORT for SVDRP (default: %d)\n"
@@ -430,6 +442,7 @@
                DEFAULTEPGDATAFILENAME,
                DEFAULTPLUGINDIR,
                LIRC_DEVICE,
+               LOCDIR,
                DEFAULTSVDRPPORT,
                RCU_DEVICE,
                VideoDirectory,
@@ -515,7 +528,7 @@
 
   // Initialize internationalization:
 
-  I18nInitialize();
+  I18nInitialize(LocaleDir);
 
   // Main program loop variables - need to be here to have them initialized before any EXIT():