diff -r 6641e941ef1e -r ff1a9aa48cfd app/django/template/__init__.py
--- a/app/django/template/__init__.py	Tue Oct 14 12:36:55 2008 +0000
+++ b/app/django/template/__init__.py	Tue Oct 14 16:00:59 2008 +0000
@@ -197,7 +197,19 @@
             self.contents[:20].replace('\n', ''))
 
     def split_contents(self):
-        return list(smart_split(self.contents))
+        split = []
+        bits = iter(smart_split(self.contents))
+        for bit in bits:
+            # Handle translation-marked template pieces
+            if bit.startswith('_("') or bit.startswith("_('"):
+                sentinal = bit[2] + ')'
+                trans_bit = [bit]
+                while not bit.endswith(sentinal):
+                    bit = bits.next()
+                    trans_bit.append(bit)
+                bit = ' '.join(trans_bit)
+            split.append(bit)
+        return split
 
 class Lexer(object):
     def __init__(self, template_string, origin):
@@ -467,7 +479,7 @@
         >>> len(fe.filters)
         2
         >>> fe.var
-        'variable'
+        <Variable: 'variable'>
 
     This class should never be instantiated outside of the
     get_filters_from_token helper function.
@@ -485,9 +497,14 @@
                                            (token[:upto], token[upto:start], token[start:]))
             if var == None:
                 var, constant, i18n_constant = match.group("var", "constant", "i18n_constant")
-                if i18n_constant:
-                    var = '"%s"' %  _(i18n_constant.replace(r'\"', '"'))
-                elif constant:
+                if i18n_constant is not None:
+                    # Don't pass the empty string to gettext, because the empty
+                    # string translates to meta information.
+                    if i18n_constant == "":
+                        var = '""'
+                    else:
+                        var = '"%s"' %  _(i18n_constant.replace(r'\"', '"'))
+                elif constant is not None:
                     var = '"%s"' % constant.replace(r'\"', '"')
                 upto = match.end()
                 if var == None:
@@ -598,15 +615,15 @@
     a hard-coded string (if it begins and ends with single or double quote
     marks)::
 
-        >>> c = {'article': {'section':'News'}}
+        >>> c = {'article': {'section':u'News'}}
         >>> Variable('article.section').resolve(c)
         u'News'
         >>> Variable('article').resolve(c)
-        {'section': 'News'}
+        {'section': u'News'}
         >>> class AClass: pass
         >>> c = AClass()
         >>> c.article = AClass()
-        >>> c.article.section = 'News'
+        >>> c.article.section = u'News'
         >>> Variable('article.section').resolve(c)
         u'News'