diff --git a/init/fish.in b/init/fish.in
index 7cc3c865d..0c1844ece 100644
--- a/init/fish.in
+++ b/init/fish.in
@@ -71,8 +71,14 @@ for i in DISPLAY
 	end
 end
 
-function _ -d "Alias for the gettext command"
-	gettext fish $argv
+if which gettext >/dev/null ^/dev/null
+	function _ -d "Alias for the gettext command"
+		gettext fish $argv
+	end
+else
+	function _ -d "Alias for the gettext command"
+		printf "%s" $argv
+	end
 end
 
 #
diff --git a/translate.c b/translate.c
index 5e4c9df17..29541b914 100644
--- a/translate.c
+++ b/translate.c
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ void translate_destroy()
 
 #else
 
+int _nl_msg_cat_cntr=0;
+
 const wchar_t *wgettext( const wchar_t *in )
 {
 	return in;