diff --git a/airtime_mvc/application/models/Locale.php b/airtime_mvc/application/models/Locale.php
index c07c9974c..8cbf34ed0 100644
--- a/airtime_mvc/application/models/Locale.php
+++ b/airtime_mvc/application/models/Locale.php
@@ -23,10 +23,16 @@ class Application_Model_Locale
         } else {
             $lang = $locale.'.'.$codeset;
         }
-        putenv("LC_ALL=$lang");
-        putenv("LANG=$lang");
-        $res = setlocale(LC_MESSAGES, $lang);
-
+        //putenv("LC_ALL=$lang");
+        //putenv("LANG=$lang");
+        //Setting the LANGUAGE env var supposedly lets gettext search inside our locale dir even if the system 
+        //doesn't have the particular locale that we want installed. This doesn't actually seem to work though. -- Albert
+        putenv("LANGUAGE=$locale"); 
+        if (setlocale(LC_MESSAGES, $lang) === false)
+        {
+            Logging::warn("Your system does not have the " . $lang . " locale installed. Run: sudo locale-gen " . $lang);
+        }
+        
         $domain = 'airtime';
         bindtextdomain($domain, '../locale');
         textdomain($domain);