diff --git a/builtin/init-db.c b/builtin/init-db.c
index f7ddf5b32f294641fd223c358d2336f6af236c33..e0e5ce3b1985cd2aba66d8c00d134d5c7a5a62ef 100644
--- a/builtin/init-db.c
+++ b/builtin/init-db.c
@@ -354,9 +354,15 @@ int init_db(const char *template_dir, unsigned int flags)
 	if (!(flags & INIT_DB_QUIET)) {
 		const char *git_dir = get_git_dir();
 		int len = strlen(git_dir);
-		printf("%s%s Git repository in %s%s\n",
-		       reinit ? "Reinitialized existing" : "Initialized empty",
-		       shared_repository ? " shared" : "",
+
+		/*
+		 * TRANSLATORS: The first '%s' is either "Reinitialized
+		 * existing" or "Initialized empty", the second " shared" or
+		 * "", and the last '%s%s' is the verbatim directory name.
+		 */
+		printf(_("%s%s Git repository in %s%s\n"),
+		       reinit ? _("Reinitialized existing") : _("Initialized empty"),
+		       shared_repository ? _(" shared") : "",
 		       git_dir, len && git_dir[len-1] != '/' ? "/" : "");
 	}
 
diff --git a/t/t0001-init.sh b/t/t0001-init.sh
index f6849932112f1bbea1dafad09150857a707b64e4..dd4c00d14b82b7289e27b4da816be263629699f1 100755
--- a/t/t0001-init.sh
+++ b/t/t0001-init.sh
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ test_expect_success 'GIT_DIR & GIT_WORK_TREE (2)' '
 	fi
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reinit' '
+test_expect_success C_LOCALE_OUTPUT 'reinit' '
 
 	(
 		sane_unset GIT_CONFIG GIT_WORK_TREE GIT_CONFIG &&