diff --git a/django/bin/django-admin.py b/django/bin/django-admin.py
index 0d021ba172..e9e72a9b73 100755
--- a/django/bin/django-admin.py
+++ b/django/bin/django-admin.py
@@ -1,8 +1,13 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 from django.core import management
+from django.utils import translation
 from optparse import OptionParser
 import os, sys
 
+# switch to english, because django-admin creates database content
+# like permissions, and those shouldn't contain any translations
+translation.activate('*', 'en-us')
+
 ACTION_MAPPING = {
     'adminindex': management.get_admin_index,
     'createsuperuser': management.createsuperuser,
@@ -128,3 +133,4 @@ def main():
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()
+
diff --git a/django/utils/translation.py b/django/utils/translation.py
index 2cd393c433..4f06053942 100644
--- a/django/utils/translation.py
+++ b/django/utils/translation.py
@@ -180,7 +180,10 @@ def activate(appname, language):
     tuple of application name and language and installs it as
     the current translation object for the current thread.
     """
-    t = translation(appname, language)
+    if language == 'en' or language.startswith('en-'):
+        t = gettext_module.NullTranslations()
+    else:
+        t = translation(appname, language)
     _active[currentThread()] = t
 
 def deactivate():