diff --git a/django/core/management/commands/makemessages.py b/django/core/management/commands/makemessages.py
index bb364d4..6eedb14 100644
--- a/django/core/management/commands/makemessages.py
+++ b/django/core/management/commands/makemessages.py
@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@ def make_messages(locale=None, domain='django', verbosity='1', all=False):
     """
     # Need to ensure that the i18n framework is enabled
     from django.conf import settings
-    settings.configure(USE_I18N = True)
+    try:
+        settings.USE_I18N = True
+    except ImportError:
+        settings.configure(USE_I18N = True)
     
     from django.utils.translation import templatize