Index: src/plugins/grass/qgsgrassnewmapset.cpp
===================================================================
--- src/plugins/grass/qgsgrassnewmapset.cpp	(revision 8753)
+++ src/plugins/grass/qgsgrassnewmapset.cpp	(working copy)
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@
     hSRS = OSRNewSpatialReference(NULL);
     int errcode;
     const char *oldlocale = setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL);
-    setlocale(LC_ALL, "C");
+    setlocale(LC_ALL, "UTF-8");
     errcode = OSRImportFromProj4(hSRS, proj4.ascii());
     setlocale(LC_ALL, oldlocale);
     if ( errcode!=OGRERR_NONE )
Index: src/core/qgsspatialrefsys.cpp
===================================================================
--- src/core/qgsspatialrefsys.cpp	(revision 8753)
+++ src/core/qgsspatialrefsys.cpp	(working copy)
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@
     setMapUnits();
     mIsValidFlag = true;
     const char *oldlocale = setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL);
-    setlocale(LC_ALL, "C");
+    setlocale(LC_ALL, "UTF-8");
     OSRImportFromProj4( mSRS, proj4String.toLatin1().constData() );
     setlocale(LC_ALL, oldlocale);
   }
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@
       {
         // Success!  We have found the proj string by swapping the lat_1 and lat_2
         const char *oldlocale = setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL);
-        setlocale(LC_ALL, "C");
+        setlocale(LC_ALL, "UTF-8");
         OSRImportFromProj4(mSRS, theProj4StringModified.toLatin1().constData() );
         setlocale(LC_ALL, oldlocale); 
         mySrsId=myRecord["srs_id"].toLong();
@@ -665,7 +665,7 @@
 void QgsSpatialRefSys::setProj4String (QString theProj4String)
 {
   const char *oldlocale = setlocale(LC_ALL, NULL);
-  setlocale(LC_ALL, "C");
+  setlocale(LC_ALL, "UTF-8");
   mIsValidFlag = OSRImportFromProj4(mSRS, theProj4String.toLatin1().constData() )==OGRERR_NONE;
   setlocale(LC_ALL, oldlocale);
 }