no - u NEED to set the LNAG for gettext to use that lang - if u dont e can't

src/bin/e_intl.c

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ e_intl_init(void)
    ADD_LANG("fr");
 
    /* FIXME: NULL == use LANG. make this read a config value if it exists */
-   e_intl_language_set(NULL);
+   e_intl_language_set(getenv("LANG"));
    return 1;
 }
 
@@ -60,14 +60,14 @@ e_intl_shutdown(void)
 void
 e_intl_language_set(const char *lang)
 {
+   char buf[4096];
+   
    if (_e_intl_language) free(_e_intl_language);
    if (!lang) lang = getenv("LANG");
-   if (!lang)
-     {
-	setenv("LANG", "en", 1);
-	lang = "en";
-     }
+   if (!lang) lang = "en";
    _e_intl_language = strdup(lang);
+   snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "LANG=%s", _e_intl_language);
+   putenv(buf);
    setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
    bindtextdomain(PACKAGE, LOCALE_DIR);
    textdomain(PACKAGE);