diff --git a/archivebox/config.py b/archivebox/config.py
index c8882b9e..743fc9a0 100644
--- a/archivebox/config.py
+++ b/archivebox/config.py
@@ -650,7 +650,7 @@ def bin_version(binary: Optional[str]) -> Optional[str]:
         return None
 
     try:
-        version_str = run([abspath, "--version"], stdout=PIPE).stdout.strip().decode()
+        version_str = run([abspath, "--version"], stdout=PIPE, env={'LANG': 'C'}).stdout.strip().decode()
         # take first 3 columns of first line of version info
         return ' '.join(version_str.split('\n')[0].strip().split()[:3])
     except OSError: