diff --git a/src/basic/locale-util.c b/src/basic/locale-util.c
index d43f91fd22..d3fef01feb 100644
--- a/src/basic/locale-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/locale-util.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include "fileio.h"
 #include "hashmap.h"
 #include "locale-util.h"
+#include "missing_syscall.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
 #include "set.h"
 #include "string-table.h"
@@ -280,11 +281,6 @@ int locale_is_installed(const char *name) {
         return true;
 }
 
-void init_gettext(void) {
-        setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
-        textdomain(GETTEXT_PACKAGE);
-}
-
 bool is_locale_utf8(void) {
         static int cached_answer = -1;
         const char *set;
@@ -303,6 +299,12 @@ bool is_locale_utf8(void) {
         } else if (r != -ENXIO)
                 log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to parse $SYSTEMD_UTF8, ignoring: %m");
 
+        /* This function may be called from libsystemd, and setlocale() is not thread safe. Assuming yes. */
+        if (gettid() != raw_getpid()) {
+                cached_answer = true;
+                goto out;
+        }
+
         if (!setlocale(LC_ALL, "")) {
                 cached_answer = true;
                 goto out;
diff --git a/src/basic/locale-util.h b/src/basic/locale-util.h
index ae2797cd2d..81fe8d1084 100644
--- a/src/basic/locale-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/locale-util.h
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ int locale_is_installed(const char *name);
 
 #define _(String) dgettext(GETTEXT_PACKAGE, String)
 #define N_(String) String
-void init_gettext(void);
 
 bool is_locale_utf8(void);