diff --git a/scripts/debian10/install-user.sh b/scripts/debian10/install-user.sh
index 1c2d5a3..e621409 100755
--- a/scripts/debian10/install-user.sh
+++ b/scripts/debian10/install-user.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,14 @@ _home_dir="/home/$user"
 echo "Adding user: $user"
 
 ssh -T $ssh << EOSSH
+	if [ -f /etc/locale.gen ] && command -v locale-gen ; then
+		echo 'en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8' > /etc/locale.gen
+		locale-gen
+	echo 'LANG="en_GB.UTF-8"' > /etc/default/locale
+		else
+		echo 'Warning: cannot set locale'
+	fi
+
 	echo "Installing required packages .."
 	export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 	apt-get --assume-yes install sudo git tmux zsh curl