diff --git a/t/lib-git-svn.sh b/t/lib-git-svn.sh
index 547eb3c..2fde235 100644
--- a/t/lib-git-svn.sh
+++ b/t/lib-git-svn.sh
@@ -121,12 +121,22 @@
 		 --listen-host 127.0.0.1 &
 }
 
-prepare_a_utf8_locale () {
-	a_utf8_locale=$(locale -a | sed -n '/\.[uU][tT][fF]-*8$/{
-	p
-	q
-}')
-	if test -n "$a_utf8_locale"
+prepare_utf8_locale () {
+	if test -z "$GIT_TEST_UTF8_LOCALE"
+	then
+		case "${LC_ALL:-$LANG}" in
+		*.[Uu][Tt][Ff]8 | *.[Uu][Tt][Ff]-8)
+			GIT_TEST_UTF8_LOCALE="${LC_ALL:-$LANG}"
+			;;
+		*)
+			GIT_TEST_UTF8_LOCALE=$(locale -a | sed -n '/\.[uU][tT][fF]-*8$/{
+				p
+				q
+			}')
+			;;
+		esac
+	fi
+	if test -n "$GIT_TEST_UTF8_LOCALE"
 	then
 		test_set_prereq UTF8
 	else