Index: django/utils/translation/trans_real.py
===================================================================
--- django/utils/translation/trans_real.py	(revision 9084)
+++ django/utils/translation/trans_real.py	(working copy)
@@ -177,10 +177,13 @@
 
         for appname in settings.INSTALLED_APPS:
             p = appname.rfind('.')
-            if p >= 0:
-                app = getattr(__import__(appname[:p], {}, {}, [appname[p+1:]]), appname[p+1:])
-            else:
-                app = __import__(appname, {}, {}, [])
+            try:
+                if p >= 0:
+                    app = getattr(__import__(appname[:p], {}, {}, [appname[p+1:]]), appname[p+1:])
+                else:
+                    app = __import__(appname, {}, {}, [])
+            except AttributeError, e:
+                raise AttributeError(str(e) + ", Maybe %s doesn't exist or isn't a proper python module?" % appname)
 
             apppath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(app.__file__), 'locale')