diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/facade/lang.dart b/modules/angular2/src/facade/lang.dart
index bab4f285c1..41f7a8dd58 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/facade/lang.dart
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/facade/lang.dart
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 library angular.core.facade.lang;
 
-export 'dart:core' show Type, RegExp, print, DateTime;
+export 'dart:core' show Type, RegExp, print, DateTime, Uri;
 import 'dart:math' as math;
 import 'dart:convert' as convert;
 import 'dart:async' show Future, Zone;
@@ -376,3 +376,7 @@ num bitWiseAnd(List values) {
   var val = values.reduce((num a, num b) => (a as int) & (b as int));
   return val as num;
 }
+
+String escape(String s) {
+  return Uri.encodeComponent(s);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/facade/lang.ts b/modules/angular2/src/facade/lang.ts
index bbe947ee18..27d90ffed0 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/facade/lang.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/facade/lang.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ export interface BrowserNodeGlobal {
   clearTimeout: Function;
   setInterval: Function;
   clearInterval: Function;
+  encodeURI: Function;
 }
 
 // TODO(jteplitz602): Load WorkerGlobalScope from lib.webworker.d.ts file #3492
@@ -473,3 +474,7 @@ export function bitWiseOr(values: number[]): number {
 export function bitWiseAnd(values: number[]): number {
   return values.reduce((a, b) => { return a & b; });
 }
+
+export function escape(s: string): string {
+  return _global.encodeURI(s);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message.ts b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2ad922d2ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import {isPresent, escape} from 'angular2/src/facade/lang';
+
+/**
+ * A message extracted from a template.
+ *
+ * The identity of a message is comprised of `content` and `meaning`.
+ *
+ * `description` is additional information provided to the translator.
+ */
+export class Message {
+  constructor(public content: string, public meaning: string, public description: string) {}
+}
+
+/**
+ * Computes the id of a message
+ */
+export function id(m: Message): string {
+  let meaning = isPresent(m.meaning) ? m.meaning : "";
+  let content = isPresent(m.content) ? m.content : "";
+  return escape(`$ng|${meaning}|${content}`);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor.ts b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor.ts
index 9fdf0d2b7e..21fabe9592 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor.ts
@@ -13,21 +13,11 @@ import {isPresent, isBlank} from 'angular2/src/facade/lang';
 import {StringMapWrapper} from 'angular2/src/facade/collection';
 import {Parser} from 'angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/parser';
 import {Interpolation} from 'angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/ast';
+import {Message, id} from './message';
 
 const I18N_ATTR = "i18n";
 const I18N_ATTR_PREFIX = "i18n-";
 
-/**
- * A message extracted from a template.
- *
- * The identity of a message is comprised of `content` and `meaning`.
- *
- * `description` is additional information provided to the translator.
- */
-export class Message {
-  constructor(public content: string, public meaning: string, public description: string) {}
-}
-
 /**
  * All messages extracted from a template.
  */
@@ -56,9 +46,8 @@ export class I18nExtractionError extends ParseError {
 export function removeDuplicates(messages: Message[]): Message[] {
   let uniq: {[key: string]: Message} = {};
   messages.forEach(m => {
-    let key = `$ng__${m.meaning}__|${m.content}`;
-    if (!StringMapWrapper.contains(uniq, key)) {
-      uniq[key] = m;
+    if (!StringMapWrapper.contains(uniq, id(m))) {
+      uniq[id(m)] = m;
     }
   });
   return StringMapWrapper.values(uniq);
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_extractor_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_extractor_spec.ts
index ab15741ce0..7b1d1a8b3b 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_extractor_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_extractor_spec.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ import {
 } from 'angular2/testing_internal';
 
 import {HtmlParser} from 'angular2/src/compiler/html_parser';
-import {MessageExtractor, Message, removeDuplicates} from 'angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor';
+import {MessageExtractor, removeDuplicates} from 'angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor';
+import {Message} from 'angular2/src/i18n/message';
 import {Parser} from 'angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/parser';
 import {Lexer} from 'angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/lexer';
 
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..50d9e56cc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import {
+  AsyncTestCompleter,
+  beforeEach,
+  ddescribe,
+  describe,
+  expect,
+  iit,
+  inject,
+  it,
+  xdescribe,
+  xit
+} from 'angular2/testing_internal';
+
+import {Message, id} from 'angular2/src/i18n/message';
+
+export function main() {
+  ddescribe('Message', () => {
+    describe("id", () => {
+      it("should return a different id for messages with and without the meaning", () => {
+        let m1 = new Message("content", "meaning", null);
+        let m2 = new Message("content", null, null);
+        expect(id(m1)).toEqual(id(m1));
+        expect(id(m1)).not.toEqual(id(m2));
+      });
+    });
+  });
+}