diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c5c64a464b..acf7ef0f81 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -226,8 +226,9 @@ pseudoxml:
 .PHONY: all-source
 all-source:
 
+TRANSLATE_COMMAND=find $(TRANSLATE_SOURCES) -type d \( $(TRANSLATE_SOURCES_EXC) \) -prune -o -type f \( -iname "*.c" -o -iname "*.h" \) -print | (LC_ALL=C sort) | xgettext -x locale/synthetic.pot -f- -L C -s --add-location=file --keyword=MP_ERROR_TEXT -o - | sed -e '/"POT-Creation-Date: /d'
 locale/circuitpython.pot: all-source
-	find $(TRANSLATE_SOURCES) -type d \( $(TRANSLATE_SOURCES_EXC) \) -prune -o -type f \( -iname "*.c" -o -iname "*.h" \) -print | (LC_ALL=C sort) | xgettext -x locale/synthetic.po -f- -L C -s --add-location=file --keyword=MP_ERROR_TEXT -o - | sed -e '/"POT-Creation-Date: /d' > $@
+	$(TRANSLATE_COMMAND) > $@
 
 # Historically, `make translate` updated the .pot file and ran msgmerge.
 # However, this was a frequent source of merge conflicts.  Weblate can perform
@@ -252,7 +253,7 @@ merge-translate:
 
 .PHONY: check-translate
 check-translate:
-	find $(TRANSLATE_SOURCES) -type d \( $(TRANSLATE_SOURCES_EXC) \) -prune -o -type f \( -iname "*.c" -o -iname "*.h" \) -print | (LC_ALL=C sort) | xgettext -f- -L C -s --add-location=file --keyword=translate --keyword=MP_ERROR_TEXT -o circuitpython.pot.tmp -p locale
+	$(TRANSLATE_COMMAND) > locale/circuitpython.pot.tmp
 	$(PYTHON) tools/check_translations.py locale/circuitpython.pot.tmp locale/circuitpython.pot; status=$$?; rm -f locale/circuitpython.pot.tmp; exit $$status
 
 .PHONY: stubs
diff --git a/locale/circuitpython.pot b/locale/circuitpython.pot
index 85d7c2f1c5..f2f21f82d5 100644
--- a/locale/circuitpython.pot
+++ b/locale/circuitpython.pot
@@ -77,36 +77,12 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "%02X"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: shared-module/os/getenv.c
-#, c-format
-msgid "%S"
-msgstr ""
-
 #: shared-bindings/rgbmatrix/RGBMatrix.c
 #, c-format
 msgid ""
 "%d address pins, %d rgb pins and %d tiles indicate a height of %d, not %d"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ports/atmel-samd/common-hal/alarm/__init__.c
-#: ports/atmel-samd/common-hal/audiobusio/I2SOut.c
-#: ports/cxd56/common-hal/analogio/AnalogOut.c ports/cxd56/common-hal/rtc/RTC.c
-#: ports/espressif/common-hal/rtc/RTC.c
-#: ports/mimxrt10xx/common-hal/analogio/AnalogOut.c
-#: ports/mimxrt10xx/common-hal/rtc/RTC.c ports/nrf/common-hal/alarm/__init__.c
-#: ports/nrf/common-hal/analogio/AnalogOut.c
-#: ports/nrf/common-hal/audiobusio/I2SOut.c ports/nrf/common-hal/rtc/RTC.c
-#: ports/raspberrypi/common-hal/alarm/__init__.c
-#: ports/raspberrypi/common-hal/analogio/AnalogOut.c
-#: ports/raspberrypi/common-hal/audiobusio/I2SOut.c
-#: ports/raspberrypi/common-hal/rtc/RTC.c ports/stm/common-hal/alarm/__init__.c
-#: ports/stm/common-hal/canio/Listener.c ports/stm/common-hal/rtc/RTC.c
-#: shared-bindings/audiobusio/I2SOut.c shared-bindings/audiobusio/PDMIn.c
-#: shared-bindings/keypad/KeyMatrix.c shared-bindings/keypad/Keys.c
-#: shared-bindings/keypad/ShiftRegisterKeys.c
-msgid "%q"
-msgstr ""
-
 #: shared-bindings/microcontroller/Pin.c
 msgid "%q and %q contain duplicate pins"
 msgstr ""
@@ -290,11 +266,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "%q[%u] waits on input outside of count"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: py/runtime.c
-#, c-format
-msgid "%s"
-msgstr ""
-
 #: ports/espressif/common-hal/espidf/__init__.c
 #, c-format
 msgid "%s error 0x%x"
diff --git a/locale/synthetic.po b/locale/synthetic.pot
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/synthetic.po
rename to locale/synthetic.pot