diff --git a/cldr2json.py b/cldr2json.py
index a9633d77f..1a2574698 100755
--- a/cldr2json.py
+++ b/cldr2json.py
@@ -181,13 +181,14 @@ def load_xkb_mappings():
     return name_to_xkb
 
 
+locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, "C")
+name_to_xkb = load_xkb_mappings()
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     if "DEBUG" in os.environ:
         logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
 
-    locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, "C")
-    name_to_xkb = load_xkb_mappings()
-
     if len(sys.argv) < 2:
         print("supply a CLDR keyboard file")
         sys.exit(1)