diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/mconf.c b/scripts/kconfig/mconf.c
index 84ea9215c0a7..b8b7bba84a65 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/mconf.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/mconf.c
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <limits.h>
+#include <locale.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
@@ -931,6 +932,8 @@ int main(int ac, char **av)
 
 	signal(SIGINT, sig_handler);
 
+	setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
+
 	if (ac > 1 && strcmp(av[1], "-s") == 0) {
 		silent = 1;
 		/* Silence conf_read() until the real callback is set up */