diff --git a/src/freedombone b/src/freedombone
index 26d633a1..c00b70e3 100755
--- a/src/freedombone
+++ b/src/freedombone
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ PROJECT_NAME='freedombone'
 export TEXTDOMAIN=$PROJECT_NAME
 export TEXTDOMAINDIR="/usr/share/locale"
 
-DEFAULT_LANGUAGE='en_GB'
+DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=$(echo $LANG)
 
 # username created by default within a debian image
 GENERIC_IMAGE_USERNAME='fbone'
@@ -530,10 +530,19 @@ function locale_setup {
   fi
 
   apt-get -y install locales debconf
-  update-locale LANGUAGE=${DEFAULT_LANGUAGE}.UTF-8
-  update-locale LC_MESSAGES=${DEFAULT_LANGUAGE}.UTF-8
-  update-locale LC_ALL=${DEFAULT_LANGUAGE}.UTF-8
-  update-locale LC_CTYPE=${DEFAULT_LANGUAGE}.UTF-8
+
+  if [ ! "$DEFAULT_LANGUAGE" ]; then
+      DEFAULT_LANGUAGE='en_GB.UTF-8'
+  fi
+  if [ ${#DEFAULT_LANGUAGE} -lt 2 ]; then
+      DEFAULT_LANGUAGE='en_GB.UTF-8'
+  fi
+
+  update-locale LANG=${DEFAULT_LANGUAGE}
+  update-locale LANGUAGE=${DEFAULT_LANGUAGE}
+  update-locale LC_MESSAGES=${DEFAULT_LANGUAGE}
+  update-locale LC_ALL=${DEFAULT_LANGUAGE}
+  update-locale LC_CTYPE=${DEFAULT_LANGUAGE}
 
   echo 'locale_setup' >> $COMPLETION_FILE
 }