diff --git a/SickBeard.py b/SickBeard.py
index e34ffbcf..d9b3c259 100755
--- a/SickBeard.py
+++ b/SickBeard.py
@@ -127,8 +127,10 @@ class SickRage(object):
         sickbeard.SYS_ENCODING = None
 
         try:
-            locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, "UTF-8")
-            locale.setlocale(locale.LC_CTYPE, "UTF-8")
+            locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, "")
+        except (locale.Error, IOError):
+            pass
+        try:
             sickbeard.SYS_ENCODING = locale.getpreferredencoding()
         except (locale.Error, IOError):
             pass