diff --git a/src/calibre/translations/dynamic.py b/src/calibre/translations/dynamic.py
index fb2001d72b..909c7325b9 100644
--- a/src/calibre/translations/dynamic.py
+++ b/src/calibre/translations/dynamic.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ __copyright__ = '2008, Marshall T. Vandegrift <llasram@gmail.com>'
 
 import io
 from gettext import GNUTranslations
-from calibre.constants import ispy3
 from calibre.utils.localization import get_lc_messages_path
 from zipfile import ZipFile
 
@@ -35,5 +34,4 @@ def translate(lang, text):
                     _CACHE[lang] = trans
     if trans is None:
         return getattr(__builtins__, '_', lambda x: x)(text)
-    f = getattr(trans, 'gettext' if ispy3 else 'ugettext')
-    return f(text)
+    return trans.gettext(text)
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/localization.py b/src/calibre/utils/localization.py
index 50303c464c..7030bd4eeb 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/localization.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/localization.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2009, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
-import os, locale, re, io, sys
+import os, locale, re, io
 from gettext import GNUTranslations, NullTranslations
 
 from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type
@@ -402,8 +402,7 @@ def get_language(lang, gettext_func=None):
         # re-translate
         return translate(_extra_lang_codes[lang])
     if gettext_func is None:
-        attr = 'gettext' if sys.version_info.major > 2 else 'ugettext'
-        gettext_func = getattr(_lang_trans, attr, translate)
+        gettext_func = getattr(_lang_trans, 'gettext', translate)
     return get_iso_language(gettext_func, lang)