diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/cinnamon/nemo/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/cinnamon/nemo/default.nix
index 482fb402e4d..806ca5d664e 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/cinnamon/nemo/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/cinnamon/nemo/default.nix
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 , exempi
 , intltool
 , shared-mime-info
+, cinnamon-translations
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
@@ -57,6 +58,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   mesonFlags = [
     # TODO: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/36468
     "-Dc_args=-I${glib.dev}/include/gio-unix-2.0"
+    # use locales from cinnamon-translations
+    "--localedir=${cinnamon-translations}/share/locale"
   ];
 
   meta = with lib; {