diff --git a/usr.sbin/tzsetup/tzsetup.c b/usr.sbin/tzsetup/tzsetup.c
--- a/usr.sbin/tzsetup/tzsetup.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/tzsetup/tzsetup.c
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
 
 #ifdef HAVE_BSDDIALOG
 #include <bsddialog.h>
+#include <locale.h>
 #endif
 
 #define	_PATH_ZONETAB		"/usr/share/zoneinfo/zone1970.tab"
@@ -868,6 +869,10 @@
 
 	skiputc = 0;
 
+#ifdef HAVE_BSDDIALOG
+	setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
+#endif
+
 	/* Default skiputc to 1 for VM guests */
 	if (sysctlbyname("kern.vm_guest", vm_guest, &len, NULL, 0) == 0 &&
 	    strcmp(vm_guest, "none") != 0)