diff --git a/wxPython/src/_core_ex.py b/wxPython/src/_core_ex.py
index 656a54a991..f19ca7ecd7 100644
--- a/wxPython/src/_core_ex.py
+++ b/wxPython/src/_core_ex.py
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ if RELEASE_VERSION != _core_.RELEASE_VERSION:
 # http://www.alanwood.net/demos/charsetdiffs.html for differences
 # between the common latin/roman encodings.
 import locale
-default = locale.getdefaultlocale()[1]
+try:
+    default = locale.getdefaultlocale()[1]
+except ValueError:
+    default = "iso8859-1"
 if default:
     wx.SetDefaultPyEncoding(default)
 del default
diff --git a/wxPython/src/gtk/_core.py b/wxPython/src/gtk/_core.py
index 93078afc8b..8daf2864db 100644
--- a/wxPython/src/gtk/_core.py
+++ b/wxPython/src/gtk/_core.py
@@ -11216,7 +11216,10 @@ if RELEASE_VERSION != _core_.RELEASE_VERSION:
 # http://www.alanwood.net/demos/charsetdiffs.html for differences
 # between the common latin/roman encodings.
 import locale
-default = locale.getdefaultlocale()[1]
+try:
+    default = locale.getdefaultlocale()[1]
+except ValueError:
+    default = "iso8859-1"
 if default:
     wx.SetDefaultPyEncoding(default)
 del default