diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index aa2a2ff61..9d1975fdc 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 Release 0.6.2 (in development)
 ==============================
 
+* Look for Sphinx message catalogs in the system default path before
+  trying ``sphinx/locale``.
+
 * Fix the search for methods via "classname.methodname".
 
 * #155: Fix Python 2.4 compatibility: exceptions are old-style
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/__init__.py b/sphinx/builders/__init__.py
index 942208c92..3fb0d469f 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/__init__.py
@@ -176,7 +176,8 @@ class Builder(object):
         if self.config.language is not None:
             self.info(bold('loading translations [%s]... ' %
                            self.config.language), nonl=True)
-            locale_dirs = [path.join(package_dir, 'locale')] + \
+            # the None entry is the system's default locale path
+            locale_dirs = [None, path.join(package_dir, 'locale')] + \
                 [path.join(self.srcdir, x) for x in self.config.locale_dirs]
             for dir_ in locale_dirs:
                 try: