diff --git a/drush_make.drush.inc b/drush_make.drush.inc
index 1b2eb90..2cadf3f 100644
--- a/drush_make.drush.inc
+++ b/drush_make.drush.inc
@@ -157,6 +157,13 @@ function drush_make_projects($recursion, $contrib_destination, $info, $build_pat
     }
   }
   $ignore_checksums = drush_get_option('ignore-checksums');
+  $translations = array();
+  if ($info['translations']) {
+    $translations = array_keys($info['translations']);
+  }
+  if ($arg_translations = drush_get_option('translations', FALSE)) {
+    $translations = array_merge(explode(',', $arg_translations), $translations);
+  }
   foreach ($info['projects'] as $key => $project) {
     $md5 = '';
     if (isset($project['md5'])) {
@@ -166,6 +173,7 @@ function drush_make_projects($recursion, $contrib_destination, $info, $build_pat
     $project += array(
       'name'                => $key,
       'core'                => $info['core'],
+      'translations'        => $translations,
       'build_path'          => $build_path,
       'contrib_destination' => $contrib_destination,
       'version'             => DRUSH_MAKE_VERSION_BEST,
diff --git a/drush_make.project.inc b/drush_make.project.inc
index d0f2a48..1493629 100644
--- a/drush_make.project.inc
+++ b/drush_make.project.inc
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ class DrushMakeProject {
    */
   function getTranslations($project_directory) {
     static $cache = array();
-    $langcodes = drush_get_option('translations', FALSE);
+    $langcodes = $this->translations;
     if ($langcodes && $this->version !== drush_get_option('drush-make-version-best') && in_array($this->type, array('core', 'module', 'profile', 'theme'), TRUE)) {
       // Support the l10n_path, l10n_url keys from l10n_update. Note that the
       // l10n_server key is not supported.
@@ -148,7 +148,6 @@ class DrushMakeProject {
       }
       if ($update_url) {
         $failed = array();
-        $langcodes = explode(',', $langcodes);
         foreach ($langcodes as $langcode) {
           $variables = array(
             '%project' => $this->name,