That was due to a gnome-menus patch changing the translation domain, that is fixed with this upload:
gnome-menus (2.13.5-0ubuntu4) dapper; urgency=low * Remove debian/patches/10_set_gettext_domain.diff.patch: This was a pretty weird thinko which broke translations. *Brown paperbag* ** Changed in: gnome-panel (Ubuntu) Sourcepackagename: gnome-panel => gnome-menus Assignee: Sebastien Bacher => Ubuntu Desktop Bugs Status: Confirmed => Fix Released -- French-translated menus appearing in english despite locale settings https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/35869 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs