diff --git a/python-radon.changes b/python-radon.changes
index 99b65e7..1beb958 100644
--- a/python-radon.changes
+++ b/python-radon.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Tue Mar  5 12:43:17 UTC 2019 - Hans-Peter Jansen <hpj@urpla.net>
+
+- set environment encoding for checks in order to succeed 
+  test_encoding with Python < 3.7
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Thu Feb 14 04:42:27 UTC 2019 - John Vandenberg <jayvdb@gmail.com>
 
diff --git a/python-radon.spec b/python-radon.spec
index ec6f88e..7481d05 100644
--- a/python-radon.spec
+++ b/python-radon.spec
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ rm -r */lib/radon/tests
 %python_clone -a %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/radon
 
 %check
+export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 %python_exec -m pytest --strict
 
 %post