diff --git a/fail2ban b/fail2ban
index 05213f9e..9b0d4866 100755
--- a/fail2ban
+++ b/fail2ban
@@ -26,7 +26,14 @@ __date__ = "$Date$"
 __copyright__ = "Copyright (c) 2004 Cyril Jaquier"
 __license__ = "GPL"
 
-import sys, traceback, logging
+import sys, traceback, logging, locale
+
+# Set the locale with the user's default setting
+try:
+	locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
+except Exception:
+	print "Unable to set locale to " + `locale.getdefaultlocale()`
+	sys.exit(-1)
 
 # Appends our own modules path.
 sys.path.append("/usr/lib/fail2ban")
@@ -41,8 +48,9 @@ logSys = logging.getLogger("fail2ban")
 # Get PID lock file instance
 pidLock = PIDLock()
 
-# Start the application. Handle all the unhandled exceptions
+# Handle all the unhandled exceptions
 try:
+	# Start the application
 	fail2ban.main()
 except SystemExit:
 	# We called sys.exit(). Nothing wrong so just pass