diff --git a/gowin/main.cc b/gowin/main.cc
index db74545e..e3c6762b 100644
--- a/gowin/main.cc
+++ b/gowin/main.cc
@@ -95,7 +95,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     // floating point strings whose representation depends on the locale. If
     // you don't do this, the strings will be in the C locale and later when Qt
     // starts it won't be able to read them back as numbers.
-    std::locale::global(std::locale(""));
+    try {
+        std::locale::global(std::locale(""));
+    } catch (const std::runtime_error &e) {
+        // the locale is broken in this system, so leave it as it is
+    }
     GowinCommandHandler handler(argc, argv);
     return handler.exec();
 }