diff --git a/lib/misc.zsh b/lib/misc.zsh
index a8678b8ec..3f23b1733 100644
--- a/lib/misc.zsh
+++ b/lib/misc.zsh
@@ -12,4 +12,14 @@ setopt long_list_jobs
 export PAGER="less"
 export LESS="-R"
 
-export LC_CTYPE=$LANG
+## how to interpret text characters
+if [[ -z "$LC_CTYPE" -a -z "$LC_ALL" ]]; then # only define if undefined
+	export LC_CTYPE=${LANG%%:*}                 # pick the first entry from LANG
+	[[ -z "$LC_CTYPE" ]] && \
+		export LC_CTYPE=`locale -a | grep en_US.utf8 | head -1`
+	[[ -z "$LC_CTYPE" ]] && \
+		export LC_CTYPE=`locale -a | grep en_US | head -1`
+	[[ -z "$LC_CTYPE" ]] && \
+		export LC_CTYPE=C                         # default to internal encoding.
+fi
+