diff --git a/gnucash/gnucash-core-app.cpp b/gnucash/gnucash-core-app.cpp
index 451b1f712c6..4559ddf46c7 100644
--- a/gnucash/gnucash-core-app.cpp
+++ b/gnucash/gnucash-core-app.cpp
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ mac_find_close_country(NSString *locale_str, NSString *country_str,
     NSString *this_locale, *new_locale = nil;
     PWARN("Apple Locale is set to a value %s not supported"
           " by the C runtime", [locale_str UTF8String]);
-    while ((this_locale = (NSString*)[locale_iter nextObject]))
+    while ((this_locale = [(NSString*)[locale_iter nextObject] stringByAppendingString: @".UTF-8"]))
         if ([ [ [NSLocale componentsFromLocaleIdentifier: this_locale]
               objectForKey: NSLocaleCountryCode]
              isEqualToString: country_str] &&
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ mac_find_close_country(NSString *locale_str, NSString *country_str,
         locale_str = new_locale;
     else
     {
-        locale_str = @"en_US";
+        locale_str = @"en_US.UTF-8";
         setlocale(LC_ALL, [locale_str UTF8String]);
     }
     PWARN("Using %s instead.", [locale_str UTF8String]);
@@ -233,8 +233,9 @@ set_mac_locale()
     {
         lang_str = [locale objectForKey: NSLocaleLanguageCode];
         country_str = [locale objectForKey: NSLocaleCountryCode];
-	locale_str = [ [lang_str stringByAppendingString: @"_"]
-		      stringByAppendingString: country_str];
+	locale_str = [[[lang_str stringByAppendingString: @"_"]
+		      stringByAppendingString: country_str]
+                      stringByAppendingString: @".UTF-8"];
     }
     @catch (NSException *err)
     {
@@ -246,7 +247,7 @@ set_mac_locale()
     }
 /* If we didn't get a valid current locale, the string will be just "_" */
     if ([locale_str isEqualToString: @"_"])
-	locale_str = @"en_US";
+	locale_str = @"en_US.UTF-8";
 
     lang_str = mac_convert_complex_language(lang_str);
     if (!setlocale(LC_ALL, [locale_str UTF8String]))