diff --git a/recipes-extended/festival/festival_2.4.bb b/recipes-extended/festival/festival_2.4.bb
index 87f5a56..28623aa 100644
--- a/recipes-extended/festival/festival_2.4.bb
+++ b/recipes-extended/festival/festival_2.4.bb
@@ -77,6 +77,6 @@ do_install() {
     install -m 0755 -d ${D}${datadir}/festival/multisyn
     install -m 0644 ${S}/lib/multisyn/*scm ${D}${datadir}/festival/multisyn
 
-    cp -a ${S}/lib/dicts ${D}${datadir}/festival
-    cp -a ${S}/lib/voices ${D}${datadir}/festival
+    cp -R --no-dereference --preserve=mode,links -v ${S}/lib/dicts ${D}${datadir}/festival
+    cp -R --no-dereference --preserve=mode,links -v ${S}/lib/voices ${D}${datadir}/festival
 }