diff --git a/kanban b/kanban
index 8f42097..70f8c8b 100755
--- a/kanban
+++ b/kanban
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ COL2="\033[91;1m"
 COL3="\033[91;5m"
 TMP=$(mktemp -t kanban.XXXXXXXX)
 [[ ! -n $TERM ]] && TERM=vt100
-locale | grep -q "UTF-8" && UTF8=1
+echo "$LANG" | grep -q "UTF-8" && UTF8=1
 [[ -n $PLAIN ]] && unset UTF8
 [[ ! -n $X   ]] && X=$(tput cols)   # get size of terminal window
 [[ ! -n $Y   ]] && Y=$(tput lines)  #