diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/po.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/po.pm
index 9a25ff602..e4cd6165f 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/po.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/po.pm
@@ -186,16 +186,14 @@ sub needsbuild () { #{{{
 		}
 		IkiWiki::refresh();
 		IkiWiki::saveindex();
+		# refresh module's private variables
 		%filtered=undef;
+		%translations=undef;
+		foreach my $page (keys %pagesources) {
+			istranslation($page);
+		}
 	}
 
-	# refresh %translations, using istranslation's side-effect
-	# (not needed yet, but when newly created POT/PO files are
-	# added to %pagesources and other data structures, we'll need
-	# this)
-	foreach my $page (keys %pagesources) {
-		istranslation($page);
-	}
 
 	# make existing translations depend on the corresponding master page
 	foreach my $master (keys %translations) {