diff --git a/modules/highgui/src/window_gtk.cpp b/modules/highgui/src/window_gtk.cpp
index 152bc07e46..9d873a8cad 100644
--- a/modules/highgui/src/window_gtk.cpp
+++ b/modules/highgui/src/window_gtk.cpp
@@ -464,8 +464,8 @@ CV_IMPL int cvInitSystem( int argc, char** argv )
     {
         hg_windows = 0;
 
+        gtk_disable_setlocale();
         gtk_init( &argc, &argv );
-        setlocale(LC_NUMERIC, "en_US.utf8");
 
         #ifdef HAVE_OPENGL
             gtk_gl_init(&argc, &argv);