diff --git a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
index a4c1b4c..8ae0f82 100644
--- a/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
+++ b/modules/TDEMacros.cmake
@@ -2025,6 +2025,9 @@ macro( tde_create_translated_desktop )
 
     # are there any translations available, and required?
     unset( _translations )
+    if(NOT DEFINED BUILD_TRANSLATIONS)
+      set(BUILD_TRANSLATIONS "$ENV{LINGUAS}")
+    endif()
     if( EXISTS "${_po_dir}" AND IS_DIRECTORY "${_po_dir}" AND BUILD_TRANSLATIONS )
       file( GLOB _translations RELATIVE "${_po_dir}" "${_po_dir}/*.po" )
     endif( )