Index: django/utils/text.py
===================================================================
--- django/utils/text.py	(revision 7691)
+++ django/utils/text.py	(working copy)
@@ -196,13 +196,13 @@
     return str(ustring_re.sub(fix, s))
 javascript_quote = allow_lazy(javascript_quote, unicode)
 
-smart_split_re = re.compile('("(?:[^"\\\\]*(?:\\\\.[^"\\\\]*)*)"|\'(?:[^\'\\\\]*(?:\\\\.[^\'\\\\]*)*)\'|[^\\s]+)')
+smart_split_re = re.compile(r"""((?:_\()?"(?:[^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*)"\)?|(?:_\()?'(?:[^'\\]*(?:\\.[^'\\]*)*)'\)?|[^\s]+)""")
 def smart_split(text):
     r"""
     Generator that splits a string by spaces, leaving quoted phrases together.
     Supports both single and double quotes, and supports escaping quotes with
     backslashes. In the output, strings will keep their initial and trailing
-    quote marks.
+    quote marks. Also, gettext markers '_(', ')' are preserved.
 
     >>> list(smart_split(r'This is "a person\'s" test.'))
     [u'This', u'is', u'"a person\\\'s"', u'test.']
@@ -210,14 +210,29 @@
    	[u'Another', u"'person's'", u'test.']
    	>>> list(smart_split(r'A "\"funky\" style" test.')) 
    	[u'A', u'""funky" style"', u'test.']
+    >>> list(smart_split(' _("my quoted string") '))
+    [u'_("my quoted string")']
+    >>> list(smart_split(" _('my quoted string') "))
+    [u"_('my quoted string')"]
     """
     text = force_unicode(text)
     for bit in smart_split_re.finditer(text):
         bit = bit.group(0)
-        if bit[0] == '"' and bit[-1] == '"':
-            yield '"' + bit[1:-1].replace('\\"', '"').replace('\\\\', '\\') + '"'
-        elif bit[0] == "'" and bit[-1] == "'":
-            yield "'" + bit[1:-1].replace("\\'", "'").replace("\\\\", "\\") + "'"
+        prefix, suffix = '', ''
+        start, end = 1, -1
+        if bit[0:2] == '_(' and bit[-1] == ')':
+            prefix, suffix = '_(', ')'
+            start, end = 3, -2
+        if (bit[0] == '"' and bit[-1] == '"'
+                or bit[0:3] == '_("' and bit[-2:] == '")'):
+            yield '%s"%s"%s' % (prefix,
+                    bit[start:end].replace(r'\"', '"').replace(r'\\', '\\'),
+                    suffix)
+        elif (bit[0] == "'" and bit[-1] == "'"
+                or bit[0:3] == "_('" and bit[-2:] == "')"):
+            yield "%s'%s'%s" % (prefix,
+                    bit[start:end].replace(r"\'", "'").replace(r'\\', '\\'),
+                    suffix)
         else:
             yield bit
 smart_split = allow_lazy(smart_split, unicode)
Index: tests/regressiontests/text/tests.py
===================================================================
--- tests/regressiontests/text/tests.py	(revision 7691)
+++ tests/regressiontests/text/tests.py	(working copy)
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@
 [u'"a', u"'one"]
 >>> print list(smart_split(r'''all friends' tests'''))[1]
 friends'
+>>> list(smart_split(' _("my quoted string") '))
+[u'_("my quoted string")']
+>>> list(smart_split(" _('my quoted string') "))
+[u"_('my quoted string')"]
+>>> print list(smart_split(" _('my \"quoted\" string') "))[0]
+_('my "quoted" string')
 
 ### urlquote #############################################################
 >>> from django.utils.http import urlquote, urlquote_plus