diff --git a/scripts/install-deps.sh b/scripts/install-deps.sh
index 1041c6d88..236c5c0f6 100755
--- a/scripts/install-deps.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-deps.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ set -xeu
 declare -A PKG_MAP
 
 # workaround: for latest bindep to work, it needs to use en_US local
-export LANG=c
+export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 
 export VENV=${VENV:-/opt/stack/bifrost}