diff --git a/util/extract-strings.c b/util/extract-strings.c
index 183b99a4c4..5dd379e6d4 100644
--- a/util/extract-strings.c
+++ b/util/extract-strings.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  * License along with this library. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
  */
 
+#include <locale.h>
 #include <glib.h>
 
 typedef struct {
@@ -143,6 +144,8 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   GMarkupParseContext *context;
   ParserData data;
 
+  setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
+
   if (argc < 2)
     {
       g_printerr ("Expect a filename\n");