diff --git a/setup/install.py b/setup/install.py
index 2ab8caff8e..2be6b54e99 100644
--- a/setup/install.py
+++ b/setup/install.py
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_litera
 
 import atexit
 import glob
-import io
 import os
 import shutil
 import subprocess
@@ -16,7 +15,7 @@ import textwrap
 import time
 
 from setup import (
-    Command, __appname__, __version__, basenames, download_securely, functions,
+    Command, __appname__, __version__, basenames, functions,
     isbsd, ishaiku, islinux, modules
 )
 
@@ -356,32 +355,21 @@ class Bootstrap(Command):
 
     def pre_sub_commands(self, opts):
         tdir = self.j(self.d(self.SRC), 'translations')
+        clone_cmd = [
+            'git', 'clone', 'https://github.com/{}.git'.format(self.TRANSLATIONS_REPO), 'translations']
         if opts.ephemeral:
             if os.path.exists(tdir):
                 shutil.rmtree(tdir)
 
-            tarball_url = 'https://api.github.com/repos/{}/tarball'.format(self.TRANSLATIONS_REPO)
-            import tarfile
-            self.info('Downloading translations...')
             st = time.time()
-            try:
-                data = download_securely(tarball_url)
-            except Exception:
-                time.sleep(1)
-                data = download_securely(tarball_url)
-            tarfile.open(fileobj=io.BytesIO(data)).extractall(tdir)
-            x = os.listdir(tdir)[0]
-            for y in os.listdir(os.path.join(tdir, x)):
-                os.rename(os.path.join(tdir, x, y), os.path.join(tdir, y))
-            os.rmdir(os.path.join(tdir, x))
+            clone_cmd.insert(2, '--depth=1')
+            subprocess.check_call(clone_cmd, cwd=self.d(self.SRC))
             print('Downloaded translations in %d seconds' % int(time.time() - st))
         else:
             if os.path.exists(tdir):
                 subprocess.check_call(['git', 'pull'], cwd=tdir)
             else:
-                subprocess.check_call([
-                    'git', 'clone', 'https://github.com/{}.git'.format(self.TRANSLATIONS_REPO),
-                    'translations'], cwd=self.d(self.SRC))
+                subprocess.check_call(clone_cmd, cwd=self.d(self.SRC))
 
     def run(self, opts):
         self.info('\n\nAll done! You should now be able to run "%s setup.py install" to install calibre' % sys.executable)