diff --git a/package/binutils/Config.in b/package/binutils/Config.in
index 360dd5e3b2..e17a8ec65a 100644
--- a/package/binutils/Config.in
+++ b/package/binutils/Config.in
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_BINUTILS
 	bool "binutils"
 	depends on !BR2_nios2
 	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR
-	select BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT if BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE
 	help
 	  Install binutils on the target
 
diff --git a/package/binutils/binutils.mk b/package/binutils/binutils.mk
index 0dc20a082d..c64ec47292 100644
--- a/package/binutils/binutils.mk
+++ b/package/binutils/binutils.mk
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ BINUTILS_SITE ?= $(BR2_GNU_MIRROR)/binutils
 BINUTILS_SOURCE ?= binutils-$(BINUTILS_VERSION).tar.bz2
 BINUTILS_EXTRA_CONFIG_OPTIONS = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_BINUTILS_EXTRA_CONFIG_OPTIONS))
 BINUTILS_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
-BINUTILS_DEPENDENCIES = $(if $(BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE),gettext)
+BINUTILS_DEPENDENCIES = $(TARGET_NLS_DEPENDENCIES)
+BINUTILS_MAKE_OPTS = LIBS=$(TARGET_NLS_LIBS)
 BINUTILS_LICENSE = GPL-3.0+, libiberty LGPL-2.1+
 BINUTILS_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING3 COPYING.LIB