diff -Nrup a/source/blender/blentranslation/intern/blt_lang.c b/source/blender/blentranslation/intern/blt_lang.c
--- a/source/blender/blentranslation/intern/blt_lang.c	2021-04-21 16:23:41.000000000 +0200
+++ b/source/blender/blentranslation/intern/blt_lang.c	2021-06-04 11:50:24.706492789 +0200
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ static void free_locales(void)
 
 static void fill_locales(void)
 {
-  const char *const languages_path = BKE_appdir_folder_id(BLENDER_DATAFILES, "locale");
   char languages[FILE_MAX];
   LinkNode *lines = NULL, *line;
   char *str;
@@ -91,8 +90,7 @@ static void fill_locales(void)
 
   free_locales();
 
-  BLI_join_dirfile(languages, FILE_MAX, languages_path, "languages");
-  line = lines = BLI_file_read_as_lines(languages);
+  line = lines = BLI_file_read_as_lines("/usr/share/blender/locale/languages");
 
   /* This whole "parsing" code is a bit weak, in that it expects strictly formatted input file...
    * Should not be a problem, though, as this file is script-generated! */
@@ -198,7 +196,7 @@ EnumPropertyItem *BLT_lang_RNA_enum_prop
 void BLT_lang_init(void)
 {
 #ifdef WITH_INTERNATIONAL
-  const char *const messagepath = BKE_appdir_folder_id(BLENDER_DATAFILES, "locale");
+  const char *const messagepath = "/usr/share/locale";
 #endif
 
   /* Make sure LANG is correct and wouldn't cause #std::runtime_error. */
diff -Nrup a/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt b/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt	2021-04-21 16:23:41.000000000 +0200
+++ b/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt	2021-06-04 11:51:41.870125849 +0200
@@ -395,7 +395,8 @@ install(
 # localization
 if(WITH_INTERNATIONAL)
   set(_locale_dir "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/release/datafiles/locale")
-  set(_locale_target_dir ${TARGETDIR_VER}/datafiles/locale)
+  set(_locale_target_dir "share/locale")
+  set(_languages_target_dir "share/blender/locale")
 
   file(GLOB _po_files "${_locale_dir}/po/*.po")
   foreach(_po_file ${_po_files})
@@ -412,7 +413,7 @@ if(WITH_INTERNATIONAL)
   # Generate INSTALL rules
   install(
     FILES ${_locale_dir}/languages
-    DESTINATION ${_locale_target_dir}
+    DESTINATION ${_languages_target_dir}
   )
 
   foreach(_mo_file ${_all_mo_files})