diff --git a/src/gui/qgisapp.cpp b/src/gui/qgisapp.cpp
index 9d8e4e4e007..3891e695fcf 100644
--- a/src/gui/qgisapp.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/qgisapp.cpp
@@ -936,7 +936,7 @@ void QgisApp::createStatusBar()
   // plenty of display space on 1024x768 resolutions
   QFont myFont( "Arial", 9 );
   statusBar()->setFont(myFont);
-  mScaleLabel = new QLabel(QString("Scale"),statusBar());
+  mScaleLabel = new QLabel(QString(),statusBar());
   mScaleLabel->setFont(myFont);
   mScaleLabel->setMinimumWidth(10);
   mScaleLabel->setMargin(3);
@@ -944,7 +944,7 @@ void QgisApp::createStatusBar()
   QWhatsThis::add(mScaleLabel, tr("Displays the current map scale"));
   statusBar()->addWidget(mScaleLabel, 0,true);
   //coords status bar widget
-  mCoordsLabel = new QLabel(QString("Coordinates:"), statusBar());
+  mCoordsLabel = new QLabel(QString(), statusBar());
   mCoordsLabel->setMinimumWidth(10);
   mCoordsLabel->setFont(myFont);
   mCoordsLabel->setMargin(3);
diff --git a/src/gui/qgsmapcanvas.cpp b/src/gui/qgsmapcanvas.cpp
index d35ebf0b5fe..a0bc165ae73 100644
--- a/src/gui/qgsmapcanvas.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/qgsmapcanvas.cpp
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ void QgsMapCanvas::setExtent(QgsRect const & r)
 void QgsMapCanvas::updateScale()
 {
   double scale = mMapRender->scale();
-  QString myScaleString("Scale ");
+  QString myScaleString = tr("Scale ");
   int thePrecision = 0;
   if (scale == 0)
     myScaleString = "";