diff --git a/app/controller/controller.php b/app/controller/controller.php
index 5074a622f48cf795080df53bd064fa56b5522a4c..e9d92e3eee1ebd9280b788ab9ebba851e3629908 100644
--- a/app/controller/controller.php
+++ b/app/controller/controller.php
@@ -58,7 +58,11 @@ class Controller
         putenv("LANGUAGE=".$lang);
 
         if (!setlocale(LC_ALL, $lang)) {
-            echo "<!-- setlocale $lang failed -->";
+            // try the UTF8 version
+            putenv("LC_MESSAGES=".$lang.".utf8");
+            putenv("LANG=".$lang.".utf8");
+            putenv("LANGUAGE=".$lang.".utf8");
+            if (!setlocale(LC_ALL, $lang.".utf8")) echo "<!-- setlocale $lang failed -->";
         }
 
         if (!textdomain("messages")) {