diff --git a/roles/common/handlers/main.yml b/roles/common/handlers/main.yml
index 0dd63f4..e7b257d 100644
--- a/roles/common/handlers/main.yml
+++ b/roles/common/handlers/main.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 ---
 
+- name: generate locales
+  command: locale-gen
+
 - name: restart ssh
   systemd:
     status: restarted
diff --git a/roles/common/tasks/locales.yml b/roles/common/tasks/locales.yml
index 65c871f..26c94ec 100644
--- a/roles/common/tasks/locales.yml
+++ b/roles/common/tasks/locales.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 ---
 
+- name: Configure alternate locales generation
+  lineinfile:
+    path: /etc/locale.gen
+    state: present
+    regexp: 'de_DE.UTF-8'
+    line: 'de_DE.UTF-8 UTF-8'
+  notify: generate locales
+
 - name: Configure timezone
   timezone:
     name: "{{ TIMEZONE }}"