diff --git a/stack.sh b/stack.sh
index edd499cf6b..5cbf7a4aeb 100755
--- a/stack.sh
+++ b/stack.sh
@@ -27,13 +27,6 @@ set -o xtrace
 # Make sure custom grep options don't get in the way
 unset GREP_OPTIONS
 
-# Sanitize language settings to avoid commands bailing out
-# with "unsupported locale setting" errors.
-unset LANG
-unset LANGUAGE
-LC_ALL=C
-export LC_ALL
-
 # Make sure umask is sane
 umask 022
 
diff --git a/stackrc b/stackrc
index c919764b04..e010b452c2 100644
--- a/stackrc
+++ b/stackrc
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@
 [[ -z "$_DEVSTACK_STACKRC" ]] || return 0
 declare -r _DEVSTACK_STACKRC=1
 
+# Sanitize language settings to avoid commands bailing out
+# with "unsupported locale setting" errors.
+unset LANG
+unset LANGUAGE
+LC_ALL=C
+export LC_ALL
+
 # Find the other rc files
 RC_DIR=$(cd $(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE:-$0}") && pwd)