diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 7d50ba8aff..4bf8ed308e 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ env:
   - TOXENV=addons
   - TOXENV=devhub
   - TOXENV=reviewers
-  - TOXENV=amo
+  - TOXENV=amo-and-locales
   - TOXENV=users
   - TOXENV=main
 
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 56d1b2032a..53c48b273c 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ addopts = -vs --reuse-db --showlocals --tb=short
 python_files=test*.py
 markers =
     es_tests: mark a test as an elasticsearch test.
+    needs_locales_compilation: mark a test as needing compiled locales to work.
 norecursedirs =
     node_modules locale static media site-static user-media tmp
     templates fixtures migrations
diff --git a/src/olympia/addons/tests/test_models.py b/src/olympia/addons/tests/test_models.py
index d5389c246c..33d8d02081 100644
--- a/src/olympia/addons/tests/test_models.py
+++ b/src/olympia/addons/tests/test_models.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from django.core.files.storage import default_storage as storage
 from django.db import IntegrityError
 from django.utils import translation
 
+import pytest
 from mock import Mock, patch
 
 from olympia import amo, core
@@ -1920,6 +1921,7 @@ class TestCategoryModel(TestCase):
             cat = Category(type=t, slug='omg')
             assert cat.get_url_path()
 
+    @pytest.mark.needs_locales_compilation
     def test_name_from_constants(self):
         category = Category(
             type=amo.ADDON_EXTENSION, application=amo.FIREFOX.id,
diff --git a/src/olympia/addons/tests/test_views.py b/src/olympia/addons/tests/test_views.py
index e34ecfa142..be6a686ae9 100644
--- a/src/olympia/addons/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/src/olympia/addons/tests/test_views.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from django.core.cache import cache
 from django.test.client import Client
 from django.utils.http import urlunquote
 
+import pytest
 import waffle
 
 from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
@@ -3229,6 +3230,7 @@ class TestStaticCategoryView(TestCase):
             u'slug': u'feeds-news-blogging'
         }
 
+    @pytest.mark.needs_locales_compilation
     def test_name_translated(self):
         with self.assertNumQueries(0):
             response = self.client.get(self.url, HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE='de')
diff --git a/src/olympia/amo/tests/test_views.py b/src/olympia/amo/tests/test_views.py
index f14ed50f4e..a54a25d954 100644
--- a/src/olympia/amo/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/src/olympia/amo/tests/test_views.py
@@ -310,6 +310,7 @@ class TestOtherStuff(TestCase):
         self.assertCloseToNow(response['Expires'],
                               now=datetime.now() + timedelta(days=365))
 
+    @pytest.mark.needs_locales_compilation
     def test_jsi18n(self):
         """Test that the jsi18n library has an actual catalog of translations
         rather than just identity functions."""
diff --git a/src/olympia/devhub/tests/test_forms.py b/src/olympia/devhub/tests/test_forms.py
index 8b3f5ad478..f75a5c7913 100644
--- a/src/olympia/devhub/tests/test_forms.py
+++ b/src/olympia/devhub/tests/test_forms.py
@@ -754,6 +754,7 @@ class TestEditThemeOwnerForm(TestCase):
 
 class TestDistributionChoiceForm(TestCase):
 
+    @pytest.mark.needs_locales_compilation
     def test_lazy_choice_labels(self):
         """Tests that the labels in `choices` are still lazy
 
diff --git a/src/olympia/files/tests/test_helpers.py b/src/olympia/files/tests/test_helpers.py
index 0ff6d68d99..d3c849ae27 100644
--- a/src/olympia/files/tests/test_helpers.py
+++ b/src/olympia/files/tests/test_helpers.py
@@ -252,6 +252,7 @@ class TestFileViewer(TestCase):
         assert res == ''
         assert self.viewer.selected['msg'].startswith('File size is')
 
+    @pytest.mark.needs_locales_compilation
     @patch.object(settings, 'FILE_VIEWER_SIZE_LIMIT', 5)
     def test_file_size_unicode(self):
         with self.activate(locale='he'):
diff --git a/src/olympia/reviewers/tests/test_views_themes.py b/src/olympia/reviewers/tests/test_views_themes.py
index 5e281bc1d8..9d54c99cde 100644
--- a/src/olympia/reviewers/tests/test_views_themes.py
+++ b/src/olympia/reviewers/tests/test_views_themes.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from django.conf import settings
 from django.utils.encoding import smart_text
 
 import mock
+import pytest
 
 from pyquery import PyQuery as pq
 
@@ -94,6 +95,7 @@ class ThemeReviewTestMixin(object):
             assert ThemeLock.objects.filter(reviewer=reviewer).count() == (
                 len(expected))
 
+    @pytest.mark.needs_locales_compilation
     @mock.patch('olympia.amo.messages.success')
     @mock.patch('olympia.reviewers.tasks.reject_rereview')
     @mock.patch('olympia.reviewers.tasks.approve_rereview')
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index a4ef25a8ba..f517744b69 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -17,44 +17,39 @@ whitelist_externals =
 [testenv:es]
 commands =
     make -f Makefile-docker update_deps
-    bash {toxinidir}/locale/compile-mo.sh {toxinidir}/locale/
-    py.test -m es_tests --ignore=tests/ui/ -v {posargs}
+    py.test -m "es_tests and not needs_locales_compilation" --ignore=tests/ui/ -v {posargs}
 
 [testenv:addons]
 commands =
     make -f Makefile-docker update_deps
-    bash {toxinidir}/locale/compile-mo.sh {toxinidir}/locale/
-    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests' -v src/olympia/addons/ {posargs}
+    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests and not needs_locales_compilation' -v src/olympia/addons/ {posargs}
 
 [testenv:devhub]
 commands =
     make -f Makefile-docker update_deps
-    bash {toxinidir}/locale/compile-mo.sh {toxinidir}/locale/
-    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests' -v src/olympia/devhub/ {posargs}
+    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests and not needs_locales_compilation' -v src/olympia/devhub/ {posargs}
 
 [testenv:reviewers]
 commands =
     make -f Makefile-docker update_deps
-    bash {toxinidir}/locale/compile-mo.sh {toxinidir}/locale/
-    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests' -v src/olympia/reviewers/ {posargs}
+    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests and not needs_locales_compilation' -v src/olympia/reviewers/ {posargs}
 
-[testenv:amo]
+[testenv:amo-and-locales]
 commands =
     make -f Makefile-docker update_deps
     bash {toxinidir}/locale/compile-mo.sh {toxinidir}/locale/
-    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests' -v src/olympia/amo/ {posargs}
+    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests and not needs_locales_compilation' -v src/olympia/amo/ {posargs}
+    py.test -n 2 -m 'needs_locales_compilation' -v src/olympia/ {posargs}
 
 [testenv:users]
 commands =
     make -f Makefile-docker update_deps
-    bash {toxinidir}/locale/compile-mo.sh {toxinidir}/locale/
-    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests' -v src/olympia/users/ {posargs}
+    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests and not needs_locales_compilation' -v src/olympia/users/ {posargs}
 
 [testenv:main]
 commands =
     make -f Makefile-docker update_deps
-    bash {toxinidir}/locale/compile-mo.sh {toxinidir}/locale/
-    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests' -v src/olympia/ --ignore src/olympia/addons/ --ignore src/olympia/devhub/ --ignore src/olympia/reviewers/ --ignore src/olympia/amo/ --ignore src/olympia/users/ {posargs}
+    py.test -n 2 -m 'not es_tests and not needs_locales_compilation' -v src/olympia/ --ignore src/olympia/addons/ --ignore src/olympia/devhub/ --ignore src/olympia/reviewers/ --ignore src/olympia/amo/ --ignore src/olympia/users/ {posargs}
 
 [testenv:ui-tests]
 commands =