diff --git a/kitty/cocoa_window.m b/kitty/cocoa_window.m
index e7072ed85..07a67a449 100644
--- a/kitty/cocoa_window.m
+++ b/kitty/cocoa_window.m
@@ -25,3 +25,18 @@ cocoa_hide_titlebar(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *window_id) {
     }
     Py_RETURN_NONE;
 }
+
+
+PyObject*
+cocoa_get_lang(PyObject UNUSED *self) {
+    NSString* locale = nil;
+    NSString* lang_code = [[NSLocale currentLocale] objectForKey:NSLocaleLanguageCode];
+    NSString* country_code = [[NSLocale currentLocale] objectForKey:NSLocaleCountryCode];
+    if (lang_code && country_code) {
+        locale = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@_%@", lang_code, country_code];
+    } else {
+        locale = [[NSLocale currentLocale] localeIdentifier];
+    }
+    if (!locale) { Py_RETURN_NONE; }
+    return Py_BuildValue("s", [locale UTF8String]);
+}
diff --git a/kitty/glfw.h b/kitty/glfw.h
index 860f2bb03..86d110c45 100644
--- a/kitty/glfw.h
+++ b/kitty/glfw.h
@@ -20,9 +20,12 @@ PyObject* glfw_get_key_name(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *args);
 
 #ifdef __APPLE__
 PyObject* cocoa_hide_titlebar(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *window_id);
+PyObject* cocoa_get_lang(PyObject UNUSED *self);
 #define COCOA_HIDE_TITLEBAR {"cocoa_hide_titlebar", (PyCFunction)cocoa_hide_titlebar, METH_O, ""}, 
+#define COCOA_GET_LANG {"cocoa_get_lang", (PyCFunction)cocoa_get_lang, METH_NOARGS, ""}, 
 #else
 #define COCOA_HIDE_TITLEBAR
+#define COCOA_GET_LANG
 #endif
 
 #define GLFW_FUNC_WRAPPERS \
@@ -35,5 +38,6 @@ PyObject* cocoa_hide_titlebar(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *window_id);
     {"glfw_post_empty_event", (PyCFunction)glfw_post_empty_event, METH_NOARGS, ""}, \
     {"glfw_get_physical_dpi", (PyCFunction)glfw_get_physical_dpi, METH_NOARGS, ""}, \
     {"glfw_get_key_name", (PyCFunction)glfw_get_key_name, METH_VARARGS, ""}, \
-    COCOA_HIDE_TITLEBAR
+    COCOA_HIDE_TITLEBAR \
+    COCOA_GET_LANG
 
diff --git a/kitty/main.py b/kitty/main.py
index ca705ab82..2a796b3a9 100644
--- a/kitty/main.py
+++ b/kitty/main.py
@@ -228,7 +228,19 @@ def on_glfw_error(code, msg):
     safe_print('[glfw error] ', msg, file=sys.stderr)
 
 
+def ensure_osx_locale():
+    # Ensure the LANG env var is set. See
+    # https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/issues/90
+    from .fast_data_types import cocoa_get_lang
+    if 'LANG' not in os.environ:
+        lang = cocoa_get_lang()
+        if lang is not None:
+            os.environ['LANG'] = lang + '.UTF-8'
+
+
 def main():
+    if isosx:
+        ensure_osx_locale()
     locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
     if os.environ.pop('KITTY_LAUNCHED_BY_LAUNCH_SERVICES',
                       None) == '1' and getattr(sys, 'frozen', True):