diff --git a/Lib/getopt.py b/Lib/getopt.py
index e4cab75..3d6ecbd 100644
--- a/Lib/getopt.py
+++ b/Lib/getopt.py
@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@
 __all__ = ["GetoptError","error","getopt","gnu_getopt"]
 
 import os
-from gettext import gettext as _
+try:
+    from gettext import gettext as _
+except ImportError:
+    # Bootstrapping Python: gettext's dependencies not built yet
+    def _(s): return s
 
 class GetoptError(Exception):
     opt = ''