diff --git a/toolchain/dependencies/dependencies.mk b/toolchain/dependencies/dependencies.mk
index d50042462c..b334811ac9 100644
--- a/toolchain/dependencies/dependencies.mk
+++ b/toolchain/dependencies/dependencies.mk
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ endif
 dependencies: host-sed $(DEPENDENCIES_HOST_PREREQ)
 	@HOSTCC="$(firstword $(HOSTCC))" MAKE="$(MAKE)" \
 		HOST_SED_DIR="$(HOST_SED_DIR)" \
+		CONFIG_FILE="$(CONFIG_DIR)/.config" \
 		$(TOPDIR)/toolchain/dependencies/dependencies.sh
 
 dependencies-source:
diff --git a/toolchain/dependencies/dependencies.sh b/toolchain/dependencies/dependencies.sh
index b3822ef667..b47e9d81ee 100755
--- a/toolchain/dependencies/dependencies.sh
+++ b/toolchain/dependencies/dependencies.sh
@@ -152,3 +152,15 @@ for prog in awk bison flex msgfmt makeinfo patch gzip bzip2 perl tar wget cpio p
 	exit 1;
     fi
 done
+
+if grep ^BR2_TOOLCHAIN_BUILDROOT=y $CONFIG_FILE > /dev/null && \
+   grep ^BR2_ENABLE_LOCALE=y       $CONFIG_FILE > /dev/null ; then
+   if ! which locale > /dev/null ; then
+       /bin/echo -e "\nYou need locale support on your build machine to build a toolchain supporting locales\n"
+       exit 1 ;
+   fi
+   if ! locale -a | grep -i utf8$ ; then
+       /bin/echo -e "\nYou need at least one UTF8 locale to build a toolchain supporting locales\n"
+       exit 1 ;
+   fi
+fi