diff --git a/sys/oss4/oss4-audio.c b/sys/oss4/oss4-audio.c
index a2404cc888..0a3c0af1e4 100644
--- a/sys/oss4/oss4-audio.c
+++ b/sys/oss4/oss4-audio.c
@@ -700,6 +700,7 @@ plugin_init (GstPlugin * plugin)
   GST_DEBUG ("binding text domain %s to locale dir %s", GETTEXT_PACKAGE,
       LOCALEDIR);
   bindtextdomain (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR);
+  bind_textdomain_codeset (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, "UTF-8");
 #endif
 
   /* we want a higher rank than the legacy OSS elements have now */