diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index 2cb900557c7..076d6a6d24b 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -1386,4 +1386,5 @@ shaders:
 translation:
 	$(SILENT) echo Generating mame.pot
 	$(SILENT) find src -iname "*.cpp" | xargs xgettext --from-code=UTF-8 -k_ -k__ -o mame.pot
-	$(SILENT) find language -iname "*.po" | xargs -n 1 msgmerge -U  mame.pot
+	$(SILENT) find language -iname "*.po" | xargs -n 1 -I %% msgmerge -U %% mame.pot 
+