diff --git a/scripts/lib/install b/scripts/lib/install
index 2445c6ace1..63aa72383b 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/install
+++ b/scripts/lib/install
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ ZULIP_PATH="$(readlink -f $(dirname $0)/../..)"
 # Force a known locale.  Some packages on PyPI fail to install in some locales.
 locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
 export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
+export LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
+export LANGUAGE="en_US.UTF-8"
 
 # Check for a supported OS release.
 apt-get install -y lsb-release
diff --git a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2 b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2
index 16a7d1bb6d..83376af83f 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2
+++ b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ os.environ["PYTHONUNBUFFERED"] = "y"
 
 # Force a known locale.  Some packages on PyPI fail to install in some locales.
 os.environ["LC_ALL"] = "en_US.UTF-8"
+os.environ["LANG"] = "en_US.UTF-8"
+os.environ["LANGUAGE"] = "en_US.UTF-8"
 
 sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..'))
 from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import DEPLOYMENTS_DIR, FAIL, WARNING, ENDC, su_to_zulip