diff --git a/src/data/settings.cpp b/src/data/settings.cpp
index 8d60d60d..76da19ce 100644
--- a/src/data/settings.cpp
+++ b/src/data/settings.cpp
@@ -295,7 +295,8 @@ void Settings::read() {
     wxFileInputStream file(filename);
     if (!file.Ok()) return; // failure is not an error
     Reader reader(file, nullptr, filename);
-    reader.handle_greedy(*this);
+    reader.handle_greedy(*this);
+    if (locale.Trim().empty()) locale = _("en");
   }
 }