diff --git a/compile-messages.sh b/compile-messages.sh
index bc2e8b7b..8dddd6e3 100755
--- a/compile-messages.sh
+++ b/compile-messages.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 . ./etc/translation.vars
 
+export TZ=UTC
+
 if [ $# -ge 1 ]
 then
-    TZ=UTC env/bin/pybabel compile -D $1 -d $TRANSDIR
+    $PYBABEL compile -D $1 -d $TRANSDIR
 else
     for domain in $(ls $BABELCFG); do
-        TZ=UTC env/bin/pybabel compile -D $domain -d $TRANSDIR
+        $PYBABEL compile -D $domain -d $TRANSDIR
     done
 fi
diff --git a/etc/translation.vars b/etc/translation.vars
index b892c1db..cc7998cc 100644
--- a/etc/translation.vars
+++ b/etc/translation.vars
@@ -4,3 +4,12 @@ BABELCFG=etc/babel.cfg
 POTDIR=pots
 PROJDIR=i2p2www
 TRANSDIR=$PROJDIR/translations
+
+if [ -x env/bin/pybabel ]; then
+    PYBABEL=env/bin/pybabel
+elif [ $(which pybabel) ]; then
+    PYBABEL=$(which pybabel)
+else
+    echo "ERROR: pybabel was not found. Please run setup_venv.sh" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/extract-messages.sh b/extract-messages.sh
index fb7250d9..d8b7de1e 100755
--- a/extract-messages.sh
+++ b/extract-messages.sh
@@ -1,20 +1,26 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 . ./etc/translation.vars
 
+export TZ=UTC
+
 if [ ! -e $POTDIR ]; then
     mkdir $POTDIR
 fi
 
+# By setting the PYTHONPATH here we can help pybabel find 'our' highlighting
+# extension and we can use any pybabel
+export PYTHONPATH=i2p2www:$PYTHONPATH
+
 if [ $# -ge 1 ]
 then
-    TZ=UTC ./pybabel extract --msgid-bugs-address="http://trac.i2p2.de" \
+    $PYBABEL extract --msgid-bugs-address="http://trac.i2p2.de" \
                                --project=$PROJECT \
                                --version=$VERSION \
                                -F $BABELCFG/$1 \
                                -o $POTDIR/$1.pot $PROJDIR
 else
     for domain in $(ls $BABELCFG); do
-        TZ=UTC ./pybabel extract --msgid-bugs-address="http://trac.i2p2.de" \
+        $PYBABEL extract --msgid-bugs-address="http://trac.i2p2.de" \
                                --project=$PROJECT \
                                --version=$VERSION \
                                -F $BABELCFG/$domain \
diff --git a/init-new-po.sh b/init-new-po.sh
index 5a021c41..e8395ac2 100755
--- a/init-new-po.sh
+++ b/init-new-po.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 . ./etc/translation.vars
 
+export TZ=UTC
+
 if [ $# -ge 1 ]
 then
     for domain in $(ls $BABELCFG); do
-        TZ=UTC env/bin/pybabel init -D $domain -i $POTDIR/$domain.pot -d $TRANSDIR -l $1
+        $PYBABEL init -D $domain -i $POTDIR/$domain.pot -d $TRANSDIR -l $1
     done
 else
     echo "Usage: ./init-new-po.sh lang"
diff --git a/update-existing-po.sh b/update-existing-po.sh
index d423360d..4ddedef2 100755
--- a/update-existing-po.sh
+++ b/update-existing-po.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 . ./etc/translation.vars
+export TZ=UTC
 
 if [ $# -ge 1 ]
 then
-    TZ=UTC env/bin/pybabel update -D $1 -i $POTDIR/$1.pot -d $TRANSDIR
+    $PYBABEL update -D $1 -i $POTDIR/$1.pot -d $TRANSDIR
 else
     for domain in $(ls $BABELCFG); do
-        TZ=UTC env/bin/pybabel update -D $domain -i $POTDIR/$domain.pot -d $TRANSDIR
+        $PYBABEL update -D $domain -i $POTDIR/$domain.pot -d $TRANSDIR
     done
 fi