diff --git a/debian/wcs.init b/debian/wcs.init
index ba68064ab..84c5ec5c1 100755
--- a/debian/wcs.init
+++ b/debian/wcs.init
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ TIMEOUT=30
 CONFIG_FILE=/etc/wcs/wcs.cfg
 WCS_SETTINGS_FILE=/usr/lib/$NAME/debian_config.py
 MANAGE_SCRIPT="/usr/bin/$NAME-manage"
+LANG=C.UTF-8
 
 USER=$NAME
 GROUP=$NAME