diff --git a/mp_msg.c b/mp_msg.c
index 6be0d01e68..7ba3116a6b 100644
--- a/mp_msg.c
+++ b/mp_msg.c
@@ -16,7 +16,21 @@ static int mp_msg_levels[MSGT_MAX]; // verbose level of this module
 
 #if 1
 
-void mp_msg_init(int verbose){
+void mp_msg_init(){
+#ifdef USE_I18N
+    fprintf(stdout, "Using GNU internationalization\n");
+    fprintf(stdout, "Original domain: %s\n", textdomain(NULL));
+    fprintf(stdout, "Original dirname: %s\n", bindtextdomain(textdomain(NULL),NULL));
+    setlocale(LC_ALL, ""); /* set from the environment variables */
+    bindtextdomain("mplayer", PREFIX"/share/locale");
+    textdomain("mplayer");
+    fprintf(stdout, "Current domain: %s\n", textdomain(NULL));
+    fprintf(stdout, "Current dirname: %s\n", bindtextdomain(textdomain(NULL),NULL));
+#endif
+    mp_msg_set_level(MSGL_STATUS);
+}
+
+void mp_msg_set_level(int verbose){
     int i;
     for(i=0;i<MSGT_MAX;i++){
 	mp_msg_levels[i]=verbose;
diff --git a/mp_msg.h b/mp_msg.h
index 0cb06b3d62..8f1877c768 100644
--- a/mp_msg.h
+++ b/mp_msg.h
@@ -68,13 +68,15 @@ extern int verbose; // defined in mplayer.c
 
 #define MSGT_MAX 64
 
-void mp_msg_init(int verbose);
+void mp_msg_init();
+void mp_msg_set_level(int verbose);
 void mp_msg_c( int x, const char *format, ... );
 
 #include "config.h"
 
 #ifdef USE_I18N
 #include <libintl.h>
+#include <locale.h>
 #define mp_gettext(String) gettext(String)
 #else
 #define mp_gettext(String) String