diff --git a/shell/main.c b/shell/main.c
index 14c81c5f7..987137895 100644
--- a/shell/main.c
+++ b/shell/main.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "config.h"
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <locale.h>
 #include <glib/gi18n.h>
 #include <gtk/gtk.h>
 
@@ -58,6 +59,8 @@ main (gint    argc,
   bind_textdomain_codeset (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, "UTF-8");
   textdomain (GETTEXT_PACKAGE);
 
+  setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
+
   initialize_dependencies (&argc, &argv);
 
   application = cc_application_new ();