diff --git a/backends/libpurple/main.cpp b/backends/libpurple/main.cpp
index 404b9f0eb06ddd1baa44df9bccb1c2f5ba7b229c..e07208ff00c594c04a97a65ea6b2657db878559f 100644
--- a/backends/libpurple/main.cpp
+++ b/backends/libpurple/main.cpp
@@ -2238,7 +2238,7 @@ static void transportDataReceived(gpointer data, gint source, PurpleInputConditi
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 	boost::locale::generator gen;
-	std::locale::global(gen(""));
+	std::locale::global(gen("en_GB.UTF-8"));
 #ifndef WIN32
 #if !defined(__FreeBSD__) && !defined(__APPLE__)
 		mallopt(M_CHECK_ACTION, 2);