diff --git a/src/freedombone b/src/freedombone
index 64aa1cb2..d23413e6 100755
--- a/src/freedombone
+++ b/src/freedombone
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ PROJECT_NAME='freedombone'
 export TEXTDOMAIN=$PROJECT_NAME
 export TEXTDOMAINDIR="/usr/share/locale"
 
+DEFAULT_LANGUAGE='en_GB'
+
 # username created by default within a debian image
 GENERIC_IMAGE_USERNAME='fbone'
 
@@ -522,6 +524,19 @@ function show_help {
   exit 0
 }
 
+function locale_setup {
+  if grep -Fxq "locale_setup" $COMPLETION_FILE; then
+      return
+  fi
+
+  apt-get -y install locales debconf
+  update-locale LANGUAGE=${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
+
+  echo 'locale_setup' >> $COMPLETION_FILE
+}
 
 function interactive_configuration_remote_backups {
   if [[ $SYSTEM_TYPE == "$VARIANT_MESH" ]]; then
@@ -857,6 +872,9 @@ function read_configuration {
       if [[ $CONFIGURATION_FILE != '/root/freedombone.cfg' ]]; then
           cp $CONFIGURATION_FILE /root/freedombone.cfg
       fi
+      if grep -q "DEFAULT_LANGUAGE" $CONFIGURATION_FILE; then
+          DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=$(grep "DEFAULT_LANGUAGE" $CONFIGURATION_FILE | awk -F '=' '{print $2}')
+      fi
       if grep -q "MINIMAL_INSTALL" $CONFIGURATION_FILE; then
           MINIMAL_INSTALL=$(grep "MINIMAL_INSTALL" $CONFIGURATION_FILE | awk -F '=' '{print $2}')
       fi
@@ -6157,6 +6175,7 @@ function initial_setup {
   if grep -Fxq "initial_setup" $COMPLETION_FILE; then
       return
   fi
+
   apt-get -y remove --purge apache*
   apt-get -y dist-upgrade
   apt-get -y install ca-certificates emacs24 cpulimit
@@ -11932,6 +11951,7 @@ function install_final {
 
 
 read_configuration
+locale_setup
 parse_args
 check_domains
 install_not_on_BBB
diff --git a/src/freedombone-image-customise b/src/freedombone-image-customise
index 0150e01e..de74b514 100755
--- a/src/freedombone-image-customise
+++ b/src/freedombone-image-customise
@@ -355,6 +355,7 @@ chroot "$rootdir" apt-get install -y sudo git dialog toilet build-essential open
 chroot "$rootdir" apt-get install -y avahi-daemon avahi-utils avahi-discover avahi-autoipd
 chroot "$rootdir" apt-get install -y iptables dnsutils net-tools network-manager iputils-ping
 chroot "$rootdir" apt-get install -y libnss-mdns libnss-myhostname libnss-gw-name nano man ntp
+chroot "$rootdir" apt-get install -y locales debconf
 
 sed -i "s|#host-name=.*|host-name=${PROJECT_NAME}|g" $rootdir/etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf