diff --git a/lib/mail.php b/lib/mail.php
index 4c73a0b7be..b8d3236f63 100644
--- a/lib/mail.php
+++ b/lib/mail.php
@@ -115,6 +115,8 @@ function mail_subscribe_notify($listenee, $listener) {
 
 function mail_subscribe_notify_profile($listenee, $other) {
 	if ($listenee->email && $listenee->emailnotifysub) {
+        // use the recipients localization
+        common_init_locale($listenee->language);
 		$profile = $listenee->getProfile();
 		$name = $profile->getBestName();
 		$long_name = ($other->fullname) ? ($other->fullname . ' (' . $other->nickname . ')') : $other->nickname;
@@ -130,6 +132,9 @@ function mail_subscribe_notify_profile($listenee, $other) {
 						 common_config('site', 'name'),
 						 $other->profileurl,
 						 common_config('site', 'name'));
+
+        // reset localization
+        common_init_locale();
 		mail_send($recipients, $headers, $body);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/lib/util.php b/lib/util.php
index 204ad511ca..077c9219a8 100644
--- a/lib/util.php
+++ b/lib/util.php
@@ -131,17 +131,24 @@ function common_end_xml() {
 	$xw->flush();
 }
 
+function common_init_locale($language=null) {
+    if(!$language) {
+        $language = common_language();
+    }
+    putenv('LANGUAGE='.$language);
+    putenv('LANG='.$language);
+    return setlocale(LC_ALL, $language . ".utf8",
+            $language . ".UTF8",
+            $language . ".utf-8",
+            $language . ".UTF-8",
+            $language);
+}
+
 function common_init_language() {
 	mb_internal_encoding('UTF-8');
 	$language = common_language();
 	# So we don't have to make people install the gettext locales
-	putenv('LANGUAGE='.$language);
-	putenv('LANG='.$language);
-	$locale_set = setlocale(LC_ALL, $language . ".utf8",
-							$language . ".UTF8",
-							$language . ".utf-8",
-							$language . ".UTF-8",
-							$language);
+ 	$locale_set = common_init_locale($language);
 	bindtextdomain("laconica", common_config('site','locale_path'));
 	bind_textdomain_codeset("laconica", "UTF-8");
 	textdomain("laconica");