diff --git a/pmb/config/__init__.py b/pmb/config/__init__.py
index 6a08c546..75da5768 100644
--- a/pmb/config/__init__.py
+++ b/pmb/config/__init__.py
@@ -167,26 +167,6 @@ if "NO_COLOR" in os.environ:
     for style in styles.keys():
         styles[style] = ""
 
-
-# List of available locales taken from musl-locales package; see
-# https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/contents?name=musl-locales
-locales = [
-    "C.UTF-8",
-    "ch_DE.UTF-8",
-    "de_CH.UTF-8",
-    "de_DE.UTF-8",
-    "en_GB.UTF-8",
-    "en_US.UTF-8",
-    "es_ES.UTF-8",
-    "fr_FR.UTF-8",
-    "it_IT.UTF-8",
-    "nb_NO.UTF-8",
-    "nl_NL.UTF-8",
-    "pt_BR.UTF-8",
-    "ru_RU.UTF-8",
-    "sv_SE.UTF-8"
-]
-
 # Supported filesystems and their fstools packages
 filesystems = {"btrfs": "btrfs-progs",
                "ext2": "e2fsprogs",
diff --git a/pmb/config/init.py b/pmb/config/init.py
index 56386a34..37183c1f 100644
--- a/pmb/config/init.py
+++ b/pmb/config/init.py
@@ -620,15 +620,36 @@ def ask_build_pkgs_on_install(args):
                                    default=args.build_pkgs_on_install)
 
 
+def get_locales():
+    ret = []
+    list_path = f"{pmb.config.pmb_src}/pmb/data/locales"
+    with open(list_path, "r") as handle:
+        for line in handle:
+            ret += [line.rstrip()]
+    return ret
+
+
 def ask_for_locale(args):
-    locales = pmb.config.locales
-    logging.info(f"Available locales ({len(locales)}): {', '.join(locales)}")
-    return pmb.helpers.cli.ask("Choose default locale for installation",
-                               choices=None,
-                               default=args.locale,
-                               lowercase_answer=False,
-                               validation_regex="|".join(locales),
-                               complete=locales)
+    locales = get_locales()
+    logging.info("Choose your preferred locale, like e.g. en_US. Only UTF-8"
+                 " is supported, it gets appended automatically. Use"
+                 " tab-completion if needed.")
+
+    while True:
+        ret = pmb.helpers.cli.ask("Locale",
+                                  choices=None,
+                                  default=args.locale.replace(".UTF-8", ""),
+                                  lowercase_answer=False,
+                                  complete=locales)
+        ret = ret.replace(".UTF-8", "")
+        if ret not in locales:
+            logging.info("WARNING: this locale is not in the list of known"
+                         " valid locales.")
+            if pmb.helpers.cli.ask() != "y":
+                # Ask again
+                continue
+
+        return f"{ret}.UTF-8"
 
 
 def frontend(args):
diff --git a/pmb/data/locales b/pmb/data/locales
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8573d76b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmb/data/locales
@@ -0,0 +1,304 @@
+C
+a_DJ
+aa_ER
+aa_ET
+af_ZA
+agr_PE
+ak_GH
+am_ET
+an_ES
+anp_IN
+ar_AE
+ar_BH
+ar_DZ
+ar_EG
+ar_IN
+ar_IQ
+ar_JO
+ar_KW
+ar_LB
+ar_LY
+ar_MA
+ar_OM
+ar_QA
+ar_SA
+ar_SD
+ar_SS
+ar_SY
+ar_TN
+ar_YE
+as_IN
+ast_ES
+ayc_PE
+az_AZ
+az_IR
+be_BY
+bem_ZM
+ber_DZ
+ber_MA
+bg_BG
+bhb_IN
+bho_IN
+bho_NP
+bi_VU
+bn_BD
+bn_IN
+bo_CN
+bo_IN
+br_FR
+brx_IN
+bs_BA
+byn_ER
+ca_AD
+ca_ES
+ca_FR
+ca_IT
+ce_RU
+ch_DE
+chr_US
+cmn_TW
+crh_UA
+cs_CZ
+csb_PL
+cv_RU
+cy_GB
+da_DK
+de_AT
+de_BE
+de_CH
+de_DE
+de_IT
+de_LI
+de_LU
+doi_IN
+dsb_DE
+dv_MV
+dz_BT
+el_CY
+el_GR
+en_AG
+en_AU
+en_BW
+en_CA
+en_DK
+en_GB
+en_HK
+en_IE
+en_IL
+en_IN
+en_NG
+en_NZ
+en_PH
+en_SC
+en_SG
+en_US
+en_ZA
+en_ZM
+en_ZW
+eo
+es_AR
+es_BO
+es_CL
+es_CO
+es_CR
+es_CU
+es_DO
+es_EC
+es_ES
+es_GT
+es_HN
+es_MX
+es_NI
+es_PA
+es_PE
+es_PR
+es_PY
+es_SV
+es_US
+es_UY
+es_VE
+et_EE
+eu_ES
+fa_IR
+ff_SN
+fi_FI
+fil_PH
+fo_FO
+fr_BE
+fr_CA
+fr_CH
+fr_FR
+fr_LU
+fur_IT
+fy_DE
+fy_NL
+ga_IE
+gd_GB
+gez_ER
+gez_ET
+gl_ES
+gu_IN
+gv_GB
+ha_NG
+hak_TW
+he_IL
+hi_IN
+hif_FJ
+hne_IN
+hr_HR
+hsb_DE
+ht_HT
+hu_HU
+hy_AM
+ia_FR
+id_ID
+ig_NG
+ik_CA
+is_IS
+it_CH
+it_IT
+iu_CA
+ja_JP
+ka_GE
+kab_DZ
+kk_KZ
+kl_GL
+km_KH
+kn_IN
+ko_KR
+kok_IN
+ks_IN
+ku_TR
+kw_GB
+ky_KG
+lb_LU
+lg_UG
+li_BE
+li_NL
+lij_IT
+ln_CD
+lo_LA
+lt_LT
+lv_LV
+lzh_TW
+mag_IN
+mai_IN
+mai_NP
+mfe_MU
+mg_MG
+mhr_RU
+mi_NZ
+miq_NI
+mjw_IN
+mk_MK
+ml_IN
+mn_MN
+mni_IN
+mnw_MM
+mr_IN
+ms_MY
+mt_MT
+my_MM
+nan_TW
+nb_NO
+nds_DE
+nds_NL
+ne_NP
+nhn_MX
+niu_NU
+niu_NZ
+nl_AW
+nl_BE
+nl_NL
+nn_NO
+nr_ZA
+nso_ZA
+oc_FR
+om_ET
+om_KE
+or_IN
+os_RU
+pa_IN
+pa_PK
+pap_AW
+pap_CW
+pl_PL
+ps_AF
+pt_BR
+pt_PT
+quz_PE
+raj_IN
+ro_RO
+ru_RU
+ru_UA
+rw_RW
+sa_IN
+sah_RU
+sat_IN
+sc_IT
+sd_IN
+se_NO
+sgs_LT
+shn_MM
+shs_CA
+si_LK
+sid_ET
+sk_SK
+sl_SI
+sm_WS
+so_DJ
+so_ET
+so_KE
+so_SO
+sq_AL
+sq_MK
+sr_ME
+sr_RS
+ss_ZA
+st_ZA
+sv_FI
+sv_SE
+sw_KE
+sw_TZ
+szl_PL
+ta_IN
+ta_LK
+tcy_IN
+te_IN
+tg_TJ
+th_TH
+the_NP
+ti_ER
+ti_ET
+tig_ER
+tk_TM
+tl_PH
+tn_ZA
+to_TO
+tpi_PG
+tr_CY
+tr_TR
+ts_ZA
+tt_RU
+ug_CN
+uk_UA
+unm_US
+ur_IN
+ur_PK
+uz_UZ
+ve_ZA
+vi_VN
+wa_BE
+wae_CH
+wal_ET
+wo_SN
+xh_ZA
+yi_US
+yo_NG
+yue_HK
+yuw_PG
+zh_CN
+zh_HK
+zh_SG
+zh_TW
+zu_ZA