diff --git a/po/CMakeLists.txt b/po/CMakeLists.txt
index f5a2e1b..366643b 100644
--- a/po/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/po/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
-tde_create_translation( LANG auto OUTPUT_NAME ${PROJECT_NAME} )
+# build translations if some are already available
+file( GLOB _srcs RELATIVE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} *.po  )
+if( _srcs )
+  tde_create_translation( LANG auto OUTPUT_NAME ${PROJECT_NAME} )
+endif( )