diff --git a/ext/sndio/gstsndio.c b/ext/sndio/gstsndio.c
index d52a4242dd..af8252ec03 100644
--- a/ext/sndio/gstsndio.c
+++ b/ext/sndio/gstsndio.c
@@ -37,8 +37,10 @@ plugin_init (GstPlugin * plugin)
   GST_DEBUG_CATEGORY_INIT (gst_sndio_debug, "sndio", 0, "sndio elements");
 
 #ifdef ENABLE_NLS
-  setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
+  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 /* ENABLE_NLS */
 
   return TRUE;