diff --git a/src/xz/args.c b/src/xz/args.c
index 8b943530..2732ae08 100644
--- a/src/xz/args.c
+++ b/src/xz/args.c
@@ -609,7 +609,10 @@ parse_real(args_info *args, int argc, char **argv)
 				args->files_file = fopen(optarg,
 						c == OPT_FILES ? "r" : "rb");
 				if (args->files_file == NULL)
-					message_fatal("%s: %s", optarg,
+					// TRANSLATORS: This is a translatable
+					// string because French needs a space
+					// before the colon ("%s : %s").
+					message_fatal(_("%s: %s"), optarg,
 							strerror(errno));
 			}
 
diff --git a/src/xz/coder.c b/src/xz/coder.c
index 3fefded9..143fd99a 100644
--- a/src/xz/coder.c
+++ b/src/xz/coder.c
@@ -1055,7 +1055,7 @@ coder_init(file_pair *pair)
 			strm.avail_out = 0;
 			while ((ret = lzma_code(&strm, LZMA_RUN))
 					== LZMA_UNSUPPORTED_CHECK)
-				message_warning("%s: %s", pair->src_name,
+				message_warning(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name,
 						message_strm(ret));
 
 			// With --single-stream lzma_code won't wait for
@@ -1071,7 +1071,7 @@ coder_init(file_pair *pair)
 	}
 
 	if (ret != LZMA_OK) {
-		message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name, message_strm(ret));
+		message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name, message_strm(ret));
 		if (ret == LZMA_MEMLIMIT_ERROR)
 			message_mem_needed(V_ERROR, lzma_memusage(&strm));
 
@@ -1371,10 +1371,10 @@ coder_normal(file_pair *pair)
 			// wrong and we print an error. Otherwise it's just
 			// a warning and coding can continue.
 			if (stop) {
-				message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name,
+				message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name,
 						message_strm(ret));
 			} else {
-				message_warning("%s: %s", pair->src_name,
+				message_warning(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name,
 						message_strm(ret));
 
 				// When compressing, all possible errors set
diff --git a/src/xz/file_io.c b/src/xz/file_io.c
index 29f46ea7..a181b531 100644
--- a/src/xz/file_io.c
+++ b/src/xz/file_io.c
@@ -602,7 +602,7 @@ io_open_src_real(file_pair *pair)
 	if (!follow_symlinks) {
 		struct stat st;
 		if (lstat(pair->src_name, &st)) {
-			message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name,
+			message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name,
 					strerror(errno));
 			return true;
 
@@ -676,7 +676,7 @@ io_open_src_real(file_pair *pair)
 			// Something else than O_NOFOLLOW failing
 			// (assuming that the race conditions didn't
 			// confuse us).
-			message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name,
+			message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name,
 					strerror(errno));
 
 		return true;
@@ -766,7 +766,7 @@ io_open_src_real(file_pair *pair)
 	return false;
 
 error_msg:
-	message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name, strerror(errno));
+	message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name, strerror(errno));
 error:
 	(void)close(pair->src_fd);
 	return true;
@@ -937,7 +937,7 @@ io_open_dest_real(file_pair *pair)
 		pair->dest_fd = open(pair->dest_name, flags, mode);
 
 		if (pair->dest_fd == -1) {
-			message_error("%s: %s", pair->dest_name,
+			message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->dest_name,
 					strerror(errno));
 			free(pair->dest_name);
 			return true;
diff --git a/src/xz/list.c b/src/xz/list.c
index 90799bd2..86c3a762 100644
--- a/src/xz/list.c
+++ b/src/xz/list.c
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ parse_indexes(xz_file_info *xfi, file_pair *pair)
 			hardware_memlimit_get(MODE_LIST),
 			(uint64_t)(pair->src_st.st_size));
 	if (ret != LZMA_OK) {
-		message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name, message_strm(ret));
+		message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name, message_strm(ret));
 		return true;
 	}
 
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ parse_indexes(xz_file_info *xfi, file_pair *pair)
 		}
 
 		default:
-			message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name,
+			message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name,
 					message_strm(ret));
 
 			// If the error was too low memory usage limit,
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ parse_block_header(file_pair *pair, const lzma_index_iter *iter,
 		break;
 
 	case LZMA_OPTIONS_ERROR:
-		message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name,
+		message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name,
 				message_strm(LZMA_OPTIONS_ERROR));
 		return true;
 
@@ -578,7 +578,8 @@ parse_block_header(file_pair *pair, const lzma_index_iter *iter,
 
 	// Check if the stringification succeeded.
 	if (str_ret != LZMA_OK) {
-		message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name, message_strm(str_ret));
+		message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name,
+				message_strm(str_ret));
 		return true;
 	}
 
@@ -586,7 +587,7 @@ parse_block_header(file_pair *pair, const lzma_index_iter *iter,
 
 data_error:
 	// Show the error message.
-	message_error("%s: %s", pair->src_name,
+	message_error(_("%s: %s"), pair->src_name,
 			message_strm(LZMA_DATA_ERROR));
 	return true;
 }