diff --git a/tests/Util/AppMockTrait.php b/tests/Util/AppMockTrait.php
index cdd5aedd5d..72c0dc429b 100644
--- a/tests/Util/AppMockTrait.php
+++ b/tests/Util/AppMockTrait.php
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ trait AppMockTrait
 	 */
 	public function mockApp($root)
 	{
-		/// @todo This mock is ugly. We return an empty string for each translation - no workaround yet
+		// simply returning the input when using L10n::t()
 		$l10nMock = \Mockery::mock('alias:Friendica\Core\L10n');
 		$l10nMock->shouldReceive('t')
-			->andReturn('');
+			->andReturnUsing(function ($arg) { return $arg; });
 
 		$this->mockConfigGet('system', 'theme', 'testtheme');
 
diff --git a/tests/src/Core/Console/AutomaticInstallationConsoleTest.php b/tests/src/Core/Console/AutomaticInstallationConsoleTest.php
index bed3a578b6..0430e678c5 100644
--- a/tests/src/Core/Console/AutomaticInstallationConsoleTest.php
+++ b/tests/src/Core/Console/AutomaticInstallationConsoleTest.php
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ Creating config file...
 Checking database...
 
 [Error] --------
-: 
+Could not connect to database.: 
 
 
 FIN;