diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/dir.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/dir.py
index b1f9ec4f1ea..7287f7804d1 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/dir.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/dir.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import os
 from ansible import constants as C
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
 from ansible.utils.vars import combine_vars
+from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
 
 #FIXME: make into plugins
 from ansible.inventory.ini import InventoryParser as InventoryINIParser
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ def get_file_parser(hostsfile, groups, loader):
             parser = InventoryScript(loader=loader, groups=groups, filename=hostsfile)
             processed = True
         except Exception as e:
-            myerr.append(str(e))
+            myerr.append('Attempted to execute "%s" as inventory script: %s' % (hostsfile, to_native(e)))
     elif shebang_present:
 
         myerr.append("The inventory file \'%s\' looks like it should be an executable inventory script, but is not marked executable. Perhaps you want to correct this with `chmod +x %s`?" % (hostsfile, hostsfile))
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ def get_file_parser(hostsfile, groups, loader):
             parser = InventoryYAMLParser(loader=loader, groups=groups, filename=hostsfile)
             processed = True
         except Exception as e:
-            myerr.append(str(e))
+            myerr.append('Attempted to read "%s" as YAML: %s' % (hostsfile, to_native(e)))
 
     # ini
     if not processed and not shebang_present:
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ def get_file_parser(hostsfile, groups, loader):
             parser = InventoryINIParser(loader=loader, groups=groups, filename=hostsfile)
             processed = True
         except Exception as e:
-            myerr.append(str(e))
+            myerr.append('Attempted to read "%s" as ini file: %s ' % (hostsfile, to_native(e)))
 
     if not processed and myerr:
         raise AnsibleError('\n'.join(myerr))