diff --git a/appends/oe-core/base-files/profile b/appends/oe-core/base-files/profile
index 525c441..7b94a64 100644
--- a/appends/oe-core/base-files/profile
+++ b/appends/oe-core/base-files/profile
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@ if [ -d /etc/profile.d ]; then
 	unset i
 fi
 
+# set locale fallback - all our images contain en_US
+if [ -z "$LANG" ]; then
+    LANG="en_US.utf8"
+    export LANG
+fi
+
 # `ls' enhancements:
 export LS_OPTIONS='--color=auto'
 eval `dircolors`
diff --git a/recipes-defaultconfig/locale/default-locale/locale.conf b/recipes-defaultconfig/locale/default-locale/locale.conf
index 38e1953..2a4a6c4 100644
--- a/recipes-defaultconfig/locale/default-locale/locale.conf
+++ b/recipes-defaultconfig/locale/default-locale/locale.conf
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 # [1] https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-devel/2018-December/041852.html
 # [2] http://lists.openembedded.org/pipermail/openembedded-core/2019-April/281327.html
 #
-# Either default so is not a good idea:
+# Neither default is working properly:
 #
 # * german Umlaute cannot be displayed anymore
 # * at least menulibre does not start anymore and complains with
@@ -18,5 +18,4 @@
 #
 # so set locale default - all our images contain en_US
 
-LANG=en_US.UTF-8
-
+LANG="en_US.UTF-8"