diff -ru newt-0.52.7.orig/configure.ac newt-0.52.7/configure.ac
--- newt-0.52.7.orig/configure.ac	2008-01-17 10:43:37 +0000
+++ newt-0.52.7/configure.ac	2008-01-17 10:44:20 +0000
@@ -35,6 +35,12 @@
   AC_DEFINE([USE_GPM], 1, [Define to 1 if GPM support is enabled])
 fi
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([nls], [  --disable-nls           compile without NLS support])
+
+if test "x$enable_nls" != "xno"; then
+  AC_DEFINE([ENABLE_NLS], 1, [Define to 1 if NLS support is enabled])
+fi
+
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
 AC_OUTPUT
 
diff -ru newt-0.52.7.orig/nls.h newt-0.52.7/nls.h
--- newt-0.52.7.orig/nls.h	2008-01-17 10:43:37 +0000
+++ newt-0.52.7/nls.h	2008-01-17 10:47:49 +0000
@@ -6,8 +6,14 @@
 
 # include <locale.h>
 
+#ifdef ENABLE_NLS
 # include <libintl.h>
 # define _(Text) gettext (Text)
+#else
+# define _(Text) (Text)
+# define dgettext(Package, String) (String)
+#endif
+
 # ifdef gettext_noop
 #  define N_(String) gettext_noop (String)
 # else
diff -ru newt-0.52.7.orig/whiptail.c newt-0.52.7/whiptail.c
--- newt-0.52.7.orig/whiptail.c	2008-01-17 10:43:37 +0000
+++ newt-0.52.7/whiptail.c	2008-01-17 10:49:34 +0000
@@ -389,10 +389,12 @@
 	    { "version", 'v', 0, &version, 0, NULL, NULL },
 	    { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 } 
     };
-   
+
+#ifdef ENABLE_NLS
     setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
     bindtextdomain (PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR);
     textdomain (PACKAGE);
+#endif
 
     optCon = poptGetContext("whiptail", argc, argv, optionsTable, 0);