diff --git a/git-am.sh b/git-am.sh
index c682d34094..b4d95f58c6 100755
--- a/git-am.sh
+++ b/git-am.sh
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ split_patches () {
 			# Since we cannot guarantee that the commit message is in
 			# git-friendly format, we put no Subject: line and just consume
 			# all of the message as the body
-			perl -M'POSIX qw(strftime)' -ne 'BEGIN { $subject = 0 }
+			LANG=C LC_ALL=C perl -M'POSIX qw(strftime)' -ne 'BEGIN { $subject = 0 }
 				if ($subject) { print ; }
 				elsif (/^\# User /) { s/\# User/From:/ ; print ; }
 				elsif (/^\# Date /) {