diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 9b27d9a..cfebdba 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <locale.h>
 
 #ifdef G_OS_WIN32
 #define STRICT
@@ -494,6 +495,11 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
   GError *error = NULL;
   GOptionContext *opt_context;
 
+  setlocale (LC_CTYPE, "");
+#ifdef LC_MESSAGES
+  setlocale (LC_MESSAGES, "");
+#endif
+
   /* This is here so that we get debug spew from the start,
    * during arg parsing
    */