diff -ubB --show-c-function /home/ludo/src/guile/libguile/script.c /home/ludo/src/guile/libguile/script.c.locale.bak
--- guile/libguile/script.c	2011-11-21 21:41:02.000000000 +0100
+++ guile/libguile/script.c.locale.bak	2011-11-21 21:41:00.000000000 +0100
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
+#include <locale.h>
 
 #include "libguile/_scm.h"
 #include "libguile/eval.h"
@@ -369,6 +370,15 @@ scm_shell_usage (int fatal, char *messag
 }
 
 
+static int
+terminating_argument (const char *arg)
+{
+  return (strcmp (arg, "--") == 0
+	  || strcmp (arg, "-c") == 0
+	  || strcmp (arg, "-ds") == 0
+	  || strcmp (arg, "-s") == 0);
+}
+
 /* Given an array of command-line switches, return a Scheme expression
    to carry out the actions specified by the switches.
  */
@@ -376,6 +386,22 @@ scm_shell_usage (int fatal, char *messag
 SCM
 scm_compile_shell_switches (int argc, char **argv)
 {
+  int i;
+
+  for (i = 0; i < argc && !terminating_argument (argv[i]); i++)
+    {
+      if (strncmp (argv[i], "--locale", sizeof "--locale") == 0)
+	{
+	  const char *equal;
+
+	  equal = strchr (argv[i], '=');
+	  if (equal != NULL)
+	    setlocale (LC_ALL, &argv[i][equal + 1]);
+	  else
+	    setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
+	}
+    }
+
   return scm_call_2 (scm_c_public_ref ("ice-9 command-line",
                                        "compile-shell-switches"),
                      scm_makfromstrs (argc, argv),