diff --git a/package/alsa-utils/Config.in b/package/alsa-utils/Config.in
index 58ecf51d0f..cc66711508 100644
--- a/package/alsa-utils/Config.in
+++ b/package/alsa-utils/Config.in
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS
 	depends on BR2_LARGEFILE
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS # alsa-lib
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT if BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE
 	help
 	  This package contains the command line utilities for the ALSA
 	  project.
diff --git a/package/alsa-utils/alsa-utils.mk b/package/alsa-utils/alsa-utils.mk
index 208c5fc9db..17895c30af 100644
--- a/package/alsa-utils/alsa-utils.mk
+++ b/package/alsa-utils/alsa-utils.mk
@@ -13,11 +13,6 @@ ALSA_UTILS_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
 ALSA_UTILS_DEPENDENCIES = host-gettext host-pkgconf alsa-lib \
 	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_NCURSES),ncurses)
 
-# gettext support is optional
-ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT),y)
-ALSA_UTILS_DEPENDENCIES += gettext
-endif
-
 ALSA_UTILS_CONF_ENV = \
 	ac_cv_prog_ncurses5_config=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/bin/$(NCURSES_CONFIG_SCRIPTS)
 
@@ -25,6 +20,11 @@ ALSA_UTILS_CONF_OPTS = \
 	--disable-xmlto \
 	--with-curses=$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_NCURSES_WCHAR),ncursesw,ncurses)
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE),y)
+ALSA_UTILS_DEPENDENCIES += gettext
+ALSA_UTILS_CONF_ENV += LIBS=-lintl
+endif
+
 ifneq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_UTILS_ALSAMIXER),y)
 ALSA_UTILS_CONF_OPTS += --disable-alsamixer --disable-alsatest
 endif