diff --git a/src/xrCore/Text/StringConversion.cpp b/src/xrCore/Text/StringConversion.cpp
index 3982dbb41e1..bcbd0db2142 100644
--- a/src/xrCore/Text/StringConversion.cpp
+++ b/src/xrCore/Text/StringConversion.cpp
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ u16 mbhMulti2Wide(wchar_t* WideStr, wchar_t* WidePos, u16 WideStrSize, const cha
     return dpos;
 }
 
-xr_string StringFromUTF8(const char* in, const std::locale& locale /*= std::locale("")*/)
+xr_string StringFromUTF8(const char* in, const std::locale& locale)
 {
     using wcvt = std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8<wchar_t>, wchar_t>;
     auto wstr = wcvt{}.from_bytes(in);
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ xr_string StringFromUTF8(const char* in, const std::locale& locale /*= std::loca
     return result;
 }
 
-xr_string StringToUTF8(const char* in, const std::locale& locale /*= std::locale("")*/)
+xr_string StringToUTF8(const char* in, const std::locale& locale)
 {
     using wcvt = std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8<wchar_t>, wchar_t>;
     std::wstring wstr(xr_strlen(in), L'\0');
diff --git a/src/xrCore/Text/StringConversion.hpp b/src/xrCore/Text/StringConversion.hpp
index 582a912aa70..37ccfebadcc 100644
--- a/src/xrCore/Text/StringConversion.hpp
+++ b/src/xrCore/Text/StringConversion.hpp
@@ -30,5 +30,5 @@ IC bool IsAlphaCharacter(wchar_t wc)
         ((wc >= 0xFF21) && (wc <= 0xFF3A)) || ((wc >= 0xFF41) && (wc <= 0xFF5A)));
 }
 
-XRCORE_API xr_string StringFromUTF8(const char* string, const std::locale& locale = std::locale(""));
-XRCORE_API xr_string StringToUTF8(const char* string, const std::locale& locale = std::locale(""));
+XRCORE_API xr_string StringFromUTF8(const char* string, const std::locale& locale);
+XRCORE_API xr_string StringToUTF8(const char* string, const std::locale& locale);
diff --git a/src/xrEngine/edit_actions.cpp b/src/xrEngine/edit_actions.cpp
index 589d3881177..8f58d1402e7 100644
--- a/src/xrEngine/edit_actions.cpp
+++ b/src/xrEngine/edit_actions.cpp
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ void type_pair::on_key_press(line_edit_control* const control)
             {
             case SDL_TEXTINPUT:
             {
-                const std::locale locale("");
+                static std::locale locale("");
                 auto str = StringFromUTF8(event.text.text, locale);
 
                 if (std::isalpha(str[0], locale) || str[0] == char(-1)) // "я" = -1
diff --git a/src/xrEngine/xr_input.cpp b/src/xrEngine/xr_input.cpp
index 1bcc0074fbc..b7d202d94c9 100644
--- a/src/xrEngine/xr_input.cpp
+++ b/src/xrEngine/xr_input.cpp
@@ -195,9 +195,10 @@ pcstr KeyToMouseButtonName(const int dik)
 bool CInput::get_dik_name(int dik, LPSTR dest_str, int dest_sz)
 {
     xr_string keyname;
+    static std::locale locale("");
 
     if (dik < SDL_NUM_SCANCODES)
-        keyname = StringFromUTF8(SDL_GetKeyName(SDL_GetKeyFromScancode((SDL_Scancode)dik)));
+        keyname = StringFromUTF8(SDL_GetKeyName(SDL_GetKeyFromScancode((SDL_Scancode)dik)), locale);
     else
         keyname = KeyToMouseButtonName(dik);