diff --git a/bin/aws_completer b/bin/aws_completer
index b153e2af15ee..dba52dd56c5e 100755
--- a/bin/aws_completer
+++ b/bin/aws_completer
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 # language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
 
 import os
+if os.environ.get('LC_CTYPE', '') == 'UTF-8':
+    os.environ['LC_CTYPE'] = 'en_US.UTF-8'
 import awscli.completer
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':