diff --git a/po/update_mo.py b/po/update_mo.py
index fc70891de8f..33b7baaed69 100755
--- a/po/update_mo.py
+++ b/po/update_mo.py
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ import subprocess
 import os
 import sys
 
-CURRENT_DIR = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+GETTEXT_MSGFMT_EXECUTABLE = "msgfmt"
+CURRENT_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 SOURCE_DIR = os.path.normpath(os.path.abspath(os.path.join(CURRENT_DIR, "..")))
 LOCALE_DIR = os.path.join(SOURCE_DIR, "release", "bin", ".blender", "locale")
 
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ def process_po(po):
     lang = os.path.basename(po)[:-3]
 
     # show stats
-    cmd = ("msgfmt",
+    cmd = (GETTEXT_MSGFMT_EXECUTABLE,
         "--statistics",
         os.path.join(CURRENT_DIR, "%s.po" % lang),
         "-o",
diff --git a/po/update_msg.py b/po/update_msg.py
index a58fd4b7998..fc3e26b1980 100644
--- a/po/update_msg.py
+++ b/po/update_msg.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 import os
 
-CURRENT_DIR = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+CURRENT_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 SOURCE_DIR = os.path.normpath(os.path.abspath(os.path.join(CURRENT_DIR, "..")))
 
 FILE_NAME_MESSAGES = os.path.join(CURRENT_DIR, "messages.txt")
diff --git a/po/update_po.py b/po/update_po.py
index 45738363966..978de6ab1e5 100755
--- a/po/update_po.py
+++ b/po/update_po.py
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ import subprocess
 import os
 import sys
 
-CURRENT_DIR = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+GETTEXT_MSGMERGE_EXECUTABLE = "msgmerge"
+CURRENT_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 DOMAIN = "blender"
 
 
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ def process_po(po):
     lang = os.path.basename(po)[:-3]
 
     # update po file
-    cmd = ("msgmerge",
+    cmd = (GETTEXT_MSGMERGE_EXECUTABLE,
            "--update",
            "--lang=%s" % lang,
            os.path.join(CURRENT_DIR, "%s.po" % lang),
diff --git a/po/update_pot.py b/po/update_pot.py
index 6c1d473b7f8..33f0b397462 100755
--- a/po/update_pot.py
+++ b/po/update_pot.py
@@ -25,9 +25,10 @@
 
 import subprocess
 import os
+from codecs import open
 
 GETTEXT_XGETTEXT_EXECUTABLE = "xgettext"
-CURRENT_DIR = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+CURRENT_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 SOURCE_DIR = os.path.normpath(os.path.abspath(os.path.join(CURRENT_DIR, "..")))
 DOMAIN = "blender"
 
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ def main():
     pot_messages = {}
     reading_message = False
     message = ""
-    with open(FILE_NAME_POT, 'r') as handle:
+    with open(FILE_NAME_POT, 'r', "utf-8") as handle:
         while True:
             line = handle.readline()
 
@@ -73,8 +74,8 @@ def main():
                 message += line[1:-1]
 
     # add messages collected automatically from RNA
-    with open(FILE_NAME_POT, "a") as pot_handle:
-        with open(FILE_NAME_MESSAGES, 'r') as handle:
+    with open(FILE_NAME_POT, "a", "utf-8") as pot_handle:
+        with open(FILE_NAME_MESSAGES, 'r', "utf-8") as handle:
             while True:
                 line = handle.readline()