diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index a0b4ef5fc..e333d34fd 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -339,7 +339,8 @@ maintainer-clean: distclean
 
 update-po:
 	@echo 'XGETTEXT'
-	@xgettext --keyword=Y --keyword=Z --keyword=TIP --default-domain=mkvtoolnix --from-code=UTF-8 -s --omit-header -o po/mkvtoolnix.pot \
+	@xgettext --keyword=YT --keyword=Y --keyword=Z --keyword=TIP \
+		--default-domain=mkvtoolnix --from-code=UTF-8 -s --omit-header -o po/mkvtoolnix.pot \
 		$(ALL_SOURCES) $(ALL_HEADERS)
 	@for i in po/*.po ; do \
 		echo 'MSGMERGE ' $$i ; \
diff --git a/src/common/translation.cpp b/src/common/translation.cpp
index 1d9d46d67..4cd8aff32 100644
--- a/src/common/translation.cpp
+++ b/src/common/translation.cpp
@@ -150,6 +150,34 @@ translation_c::get_locale() {
 #endif
 }
 
+// ------------------------------------------------------------
+
+translatable_string_c::translatable_string_c()
+{
+}
+
+translatable_string_c::translatable_string_c(const std::string &untranslated_string)
+  : m_untranslated_string(untranslated_string)
+{
+}
+
+translatable_string_c::translatable_string_c(const char *untranslated_string)
+  : m_untranslated_string(untranslated_string)
+{
+}
+
+std::string
+translatable_string_c::get_translated() {
+  return m_untranslated_string.empty() ? "" : Y(m_untranslated_string.c_str());
+}
+
+std::string
+translatable_string_c::get_untranslated() {
+  return m_untranslated_string;
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------
+
 #if defined(HAVE_LIBINTL_H)
 
 void
diff --git a/src/common/translation.h b/src/common/translation.h
index 5aa261ad4..2f34808b4 100644
--- a/src/common/translation.h
+++ b/src/common/translation.h
@@ -39,6 +39,21 @@ public:
   static std::string get_default_ui_locale();
 };
 
+class MTX_DLL_API translatable_string_c {
+protected:
+  std::string m_untranslated_string;
+
+public:
+  translatable_string_c();
+  translatable_string_c(const std::string &untranslated_string);
+  translatable_string_c(const char *untranslated_string);
+
+  std::string get_translated();
+  std::string get_untranslated();
+};
+
+#define YT(s) translatable_string_c(s)
+
 void MTX_DLL_API init_locales(std::string locale = "");
 
 #endif  // __MTX_COMMON_TRANSLATION_H