diff --git a/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.cpp b/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.cpp
index 17d138fc8d..d6744525f1 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.cpp
+++ b/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.cpp
@@ -227,6 +227,12 @@ QString const qt_(string const & str)
 }
 
 
+QString const qt_(QString const & qstr)
+{
+	return toqstr(_(fromqstr(qstr)));
+}
+
+
 void rescanTexStyles(string const & arg)
 {
 	// Run rescan in user lyx directory
diff --git a/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.h b/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.h
index 753fdbfad3..7a5f8cd6dd 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.h
+++ b/src/frontends/qt4/qt_helpers.h
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ void setSectionResizeMode(QHeaderView * view,
  * Use this in qt4/ instead of _()
  */
 QString const qt_(std::string const & str);
+QString const qt_(QString const & qstr);
+
 
 ///
 support::FileName libFileSearch(QString const & dir, QString const & name,