diff --git a/ckan/lib/i18n.py b/ckan/lib/i18n.py
index 0d2d8e49499..eadf8d0a793 100644
--- a/ckan/lib/i18n.py
+++ b/ckan/lib/i18n.py
@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@
 
 from babel import Locale, localedata
 from babel.core import LOCALE_ALIASES
+from babel.support import Translations
 from pylons import config
 from pylons import i18n
+import pylons
 
 import ckan.i18n
+from ckan.plugins import PluginImplementations
+from ckan.plugins.interfaces import ITranslations
 
 LOCALE_ALIASES['pt'] = 'pt_BR' # Default Portuguese language to
                                # Brazilian territory, since
@@ -121,9 +125,17 @@ def _set_lang(lang):
     if config.get('ckan.i18n_directory'):
         fake_config = {'pylons.paths': {'root': config['ckan.i18n_directory']},
                        'pylons.package': config['pylons.package']}
-        i18n.set_lang(lang, pylons_config=fake_config)
+        i18n.set_lang(lang, pylons_config=fake_config, class_=Translations)
     else:
-        i18n.set_lang(lang)
+        i18n.set_lang(lang, class_=Translations)
+
+    for plugin in PluginImplementations(ITranslations):
+        pylons.translator.merge(Translations.load(
+            dirname=plugin.directory(),
+            locales=plugin.locales(),
+            domain=plugin.domain()
+        ))
+
 
 def handle_request(request, tmpl_context):
     ''' Set the language for the request '''
diff --git a/ckan/lib/plugins.py b/ckan/lib/plugins.py
index abb7ffbeb4c..4939426685a 100644
--- a/ckan/lib/plugins.py
+++ b/ckan/lib/plugins.py
@@ -524,3 +524,31 @@ def activity_template(self):
         return 'organization/activity_stream.html'
 
 _default_organization_plugin = DefaultOrganizationForm()
+
+
+class DefaultTranslation(object):
+    def directory(self):
+        '''Change the directory of the *.mo translation files
+
+        The default implementation assumes the plugin is
+        ckanext/myplugin/plugin.py and the translations are stored in
+        i18n/
+        '''
+        import os
+        return os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
+                                            '../../', 'i18n'))
+    def locales(self):
+        '''Change the list of locales that this plugin handles
+
+        By default the will assume any directory in subdirectory returned
+        by self.directory() is a locale handled by this plugin
+        '''
+        import os
+        directory = self.directory()
+        return [ d for
+                 d in os.listdir(directory)
+                 if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(directory, d))
+        ]
+
+    def domain(self):
+        return 'ckanext-{name}'.format(name=self.name)
diff --git a/ckan/plugins/interfaces.py b/ckan/plugins/interfaces.py
index bd151dbb279..5de911496f2 100644
--- a/ckan/plugins/interfaces.py
+++ b/ckan/plugins/interfaces.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     'ITemplateHelpers',
     'IFacets',
     'IAuthenticator',
+    'ITranslations',
 ]
 
 from inspect import isclass
@@ -1432,3 +1433,22 @@ def abort(self, status_code, detail, headers, comment):
         '''called on abort.  This allows aborts due to authorization issues
         to be overriden'''
         return (status_code, detail, headers, comment)
+
+
+class ITranslations(Interface):
+    def directory(self):
+        '''Change the directory of the *.mo translation files
+
+        The default implementation assumes the plugin is
+        ckanext/myplugin/plugin.py and the translations are stored in
+        i18n/
+        '''
+    def locales(self):
+        '''Change the list of locales that this plugin handles
+
+        By default the will assume any directory in subdirectory returned
+        by self.directory() is a locale handled by this plugin
+        '''
+
+    def domain(self):
+        '''Change the gettext domain handled by this plugin'''