diff --git a/cmake/KF5I18nMacros.cmake.in b/cmake/KF5I18nMacros.cmake.in
--- a/cmake/KF5I18nMacros.cmake.in
+++ b/cmake/KF5I18nMacros.cmake.in
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
 
+include(CMakeParseArguments)
+
 find_package(Gettext REQUIRED)
 
 # The Python executable used for building ki18n will be used as a fallback
@@ -60,7 +62,7 @@
    endforeach (_current_FILE)
 endmacro (KI18N_WRAP_UI)
 
-# KI18N_INSTALL(podir)
+# KI18N_INSTALL(podir [DESTINATION <locale_install_dir>])
 # Search for .po files and scripting modules and install them to the standard
 # location.
 #
@@ -78,6 +80,11 @@
 #
 # .js files are installed using build-tsfiles.cmake
 #
+# ``DESTINATION`` specifies the installation directory where the files are installed to (since 5.70).
+# For backward-compatibility, if this argument is not passed, the installation
+# directory will be taken from the CMake variables ``LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR`` or, if not set,
+# ``KDE_INSTALL_LOCALEDIR``, or, if also not set, will default to "share/locale".
+#
 # For example, given the following directory structure:
 #
 #  po/
@@ -87,17 +94,36 @@
 #          kfoo.js
 #      kfoo.po
 #
-# KI18N_INSTALL(po) does the following:
+# KI18N_INSTALL(po DESITNATION ${KDE_INSTALL_LOCALEDIR}) does the following:
 # - Compiles kfoo.po into kfoo.mo and installs it in
-#   ${LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR}/fr/LC_MESSAGES or share/locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES if
-#   ${LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR} is not set.
-# - Installs kfoo.js in ${LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR}/fr/LC_SCRIPTS/kfoo
+#   ${KDE_INSTALL_LOCALEDIR}/fr/LC_MESSAGES
+# - Installs kfoo.js in ${KDE_INSTALL_LOCALEDIR}/fr/LC_SCRIPTS/kfoo
 #
 # KI18N_INSTALL_TS_FILES() is deprecated, use KI18N_INSTALL()
 #
 function(KI18N_INSTALL podir)
-    if (NOT LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR)
-        set(LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR share/locale)
+    set(options )
+    set(oneValueArgs DESTINATION)
+    set(multiValueArgs )
+
+    cmake_parse_arguments(ARGS "${options}" "${oneValueArgs}" "${multiValueArgs}"  ${ARGN})
+
+    if(ARGS_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS)
+        message(FATAL_ERROR "Unknown keywords given to KI18N_INSTALL(): \"${ARGS_UNPARSED_ARGUMENTS}\"")
+    endif()
+
+    if(ARGS_DESTINATION)
+        set(locale_installdir "${ARGS_DESTINATION}")
+    else()
+        # backward-compatible fallback to common vars as set when using KDEInstallDirs
+        # LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR will not be set by KDEInstallDirs if KDE_INSTALL_DIRS_NO_DEPRECATED is set
+        if (LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR)
+            set(locale_installdir "${LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR}")
+        elseif(KDE_INSTALL_LOCALEDIR)
+            set(locale_installdir "${KDE_INSTALL_LOCALEDIR}")
+        else()
+            set(locale_installdir "share/locale")
+        endif()
     endif()
 
     # First try to find the po directory in the source directory, where the release scripts copy them before making the tarballs
@@ -111,12 +137,12 @@
 
     if (NOT (EXISTS "${absolute_podir}" AND IS_DIRECTORY "${absolute_podir}"))
         # Nothing to do if there's no podir and it would create an empty
-        # LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR in that case.
+        # locale_installdir in that case.
         return()
     endif()
 
-    get_filename_component(dirname ${LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR} NAME)
-    get_filename_component(destname ${LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR} DIRECTORY)
+    get_filename_component(dirname ${locale_installdir} NAME)
+    get_filename_component(destname ${locale_installdir} DIRECTORY)
     string(MD5 pathmd5 ${absolute_podir})
 
     add_custom_target(pofiles-${pathmd5} ALL
@@ -153,6 +179,15 @@
 #install the scripts for a given language in the target folder
 #usage: KI18N_INSTALL_TS_FILES("ja" ${scripts_dir})
 function(KI18N_INSTALL_TS_FILES lang scripts_dir)
+    # backward-compatible fallback to common vars as set when using KDEInstallDirs
+    if (LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR)
+        set(locale_installdir "${LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR}")
+    elseif(KDE_INSTALL_LOCALEDIR)
+        set(locale_installdir "${KDE_INSTALL_LOCALEDIR}")
+    else()
+        set(locale_installdir "share/locale")
+    endif()
+
    file(GLOB_RECURSE ts_files RELATIVE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} ${scripts_dir}/*)
    set(pmapc_files)
    foreach(ts_file ${ts_files})
@@ -163,7 +198,7 @@
          get_filename_component(subpath ${ts_file} DIRECTORY)
          get_filename_component(subpath ${subpath} NAME)
          install(FILES ${ts_file}
-                 DESTINATION ${LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR}/${lang}/LC_SCRIPTS/${subpath})
+                 DESTINATION ${locale_installdir}/${lang}/LC_SCRIPTS/${subpath})
          # If current file is a pmap, also install the compiled version.
          get_filename_component(ts_ext ${ts_file} EXT)
          if(ts_ext STREQUAL ".pmap")
@@ -180,7 +215,7 @@
                ${pmapc_file}
                DEPENDS ${pmap_file})
             install(FILES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${pmapc_file}
-                    DESTINATION ${LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR}/${lang}/LC_SCRIPTS/${subpath}
+                    DESTINATION ${locale_installdir}/${lang}/LC_SCRIPTS/${subpath}
                     RENAME ${pmapc_basename})
             list(APPEND pmapc_files ${pmapc_file})
          endif()