diff --git a/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py b/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py
index ee7d30d19..c73bc69e6 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py
@@ -118,11 +118,12 @@ class GrampsLocale(object):
 
         if not language or len(language) == 0:
             if "LANGUAGE" in os.environ:
+                avail =  self.get_available_translations()
                 language = [l for l in os.environ["LANGUAGE"].split(":")
-                            if l in self.get_available_translations()]
+                            if l[:5] in avail or l[:2] in avail]
                 self.language = language
             elif not lang == "C.UTF-8":
-                self.language = [lang[0:2]]
+                self.language = [lang]
             else:
                 self.language = ["en"]
 
diff --git a/gramps/gen/utils/maclocale.py b/gramps/gen/utils/maclocale.py
index 0a3f7f7fb..4610faef0 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/utils/maclocale.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/utils/maclocale.py
@@ -250,9 +250,9 @@ def mac_setup_localization(glocale, lang, language):
     if not language or len(language) == 0:
         if "LANGUAGE" in os.environ:
             language =  [l for l in os.environ["LANGUAGE"].split(":")
-                         if l in available]
+                         if l[:5] in available or l[:2] in available]
         elif lang != "en_US":
-            language = [lang[0:2]]
+            language = [lang]
         else:
             if len(translations) > 0:
                 language = translations