diff --git a/src/mzscheme/src/read.c b/src/mzscheme/src/read.c
index e6595bcabf..f21a349b3a 100644
--- a/src/mzscheme/src/read.c
+++ b/src/mzscheme/src/read.c
@@ -2240,7 +2240,7 @@ read_list(Scheme_Object *port,
     if (effective_ch == closer) {
       if (shape == mz_shape_hash_elem) {
 	scheme_read_err(port, stxsrc, startline, startcol, start, SPAN(port, start), ch, indentation,
-			"read: expected hash pair (with key and value separated by %s) before '%c'",
+			"read: expected hash pair (with key and value separated by %s) before `%c'",
                         dot_name(params),
 			ch);
 	return NULL;
diff --git a/src/mzscheme/src/string.c b/src/mzscheme/src/string.c
index 3f6b57e550..5dd320dcd2 100644
--- a/src/mzscheme/src/string.c
+++ b/src/mzscheme/src/string.c
@@ -4075,11 +4075,14 @@ Scheme_Object *scheme_open_converter(const char *from_e, const char *to_e)
 
   if (!iconv_ready) init_iconv();
 
+  if (!*to_e || !*from_e)
+    reset_locale();
+
   if ((!strcmp(from_e, "UTF-8")
        || !strcmp(from_e, "UTF-8-permissive")
-       || (!*from_e && mzLOCALE_IS_UTF_8(from_e)))
+       || (!*from_e && mzLOCALE_IS_UTF_8(current_locale_name)))
       && (!strcmp(to_e, "UTF-8")
-	  || (!*to_e && mzLOCALE_IS_UTF_8(to_e)))) {
+	  || (!*to_e && mzLOCALE_IS_UTF_8(current_locale_name)))) {
     /* Use the built-in UTF-8<->UTF-8 converter: */
     kind = mzUTF8_KIND;
     if (!strcmp(from_e, "UTF-8-permissive"))