diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 244687806..3670198ae 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
         src: 'test/*.js',
         options: {
           reporter: 'dot',
+          require: require.resolve('./test/helpers/use-english.js'),
         },
       },
       'unit-xml': {
diff --git a/test/helpers/use-english.js b/test/helpers/use-english.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0d5c81a1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/helpers/use-english.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+'use strict';
+
+var env = process.env;
+
+// delete any user-provided language settings
+delete env.LC_ALL;
+delete env.LC_MESSAGES;
+delete env.LANG;
+delete env.LANGUAGE;
+delete env.STRONGLOOP_GLOBALIZE_APP_LANGUAGE;
diff --git a/test/karma.conf.js b/test/karma.conf.js
index f0c4d5d05..d9000f4cc 100644
--- a/test/karma.conf.js
+++ b/test/karma.conf.js
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ module.exports = function(config) {
     // list of files / patterns to load in the browser
     files: [
       'node_modules/es5-shim/es5-shim.js',
-      'test/support.js',
       'test/loopback.test.js',
       'test/model.test.js',
       // [rfeng] Browserified common/models/application.js
diff --git a/test/mocha.opts b/test/mocha.opts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1d8363384
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/mocha.opts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+--require ./test/helpers/use-english