diff --git a/es-core/src/utils/LocalizationUtil.cpp b/es-core/src/utils/LocalizationUtil.cpp
index f986edb17..98b774b22 100644
--- a/es-core/src/utils/LocalizationUtil.cpp
+++ b/es-core/src/utils/LocalizationUtil.cpp
@@ -244,8 +244,8 @@ namespace Utils
                                          LOCALE_ALLOW_NEUTRAL_NAMES);
             SetThreadLocale(sLocaleID);
 #else
-            setenv("LANGUAGE", locale.c_str(), 1);
-            setenv("LANG", locale.c_str(), 1);
+            setenv("LANGUAGE", std::string {locale + ".UTF-8"}.c_str(), 1);
+            setenv("LANG", std::string {locale + ".UTF-8"}.c_str(), 1);
             // For some bizarre reason we need to first set the locale to en_US.UTF-8 before
             // we set it to the requested locale as some specific locales like pt_BR and zh_CN
             // otherwise won't work consistently. This must be some kind of library or OS bug as