diff --git a/.zshrc b/.zshrc
index 206764a..c0ff289 100644
--- a/.zshrc
+++ b/.zshrc
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+# explicitly set the language, *before* antigen gets loaded
+export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
+export PAPERSIZE=a4
+export LANGUAGE=de:en
+
 # export ANTIGEN_LOG=$HOME/antigen.log
 # export ANTIGEN_DEBUG_LOG=$HOME/antigen.debug.log
 source $HOME/.local/lib/zsh/antigen/bin/antigen.zsh