diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 3670198a..3bafff83 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -235,6 +235,10 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
   // Default task.
   grunt.registerTask('default', ['browserify']);
 
+  grunt.registerTask('set-test-env', function() {
+    process.env.NODE_ENV = 'test';
+  });
+
   grunt.registerTask('test', [
     'eslint',
     process.env.JENKINS_HOME ? 'mochaTest:unit-xml' : 'mochaTest:unit',
@@ -243,5 +247,5 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
   ]);
 
   // alias for sl-ci-run and `npm test`
-  grunt.registerTask('mocha-and-karma', ['test']);
+  grunt.registerTask('mocha-and-karma', ['set-test-env', 'test']);
 };
diff --git a/lib/globalize.js b/lib/globalize.js
index e44ee364..2c79410b 100644
--- a/lib/globalize.js
+++ b/lib/globalize.js
@@ -7,5 +7,10 @@
 var path = require('path');
 var SG = require('strong-globalize');
 
+if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'test') {
+  module.exports = SG({language: 'en'});
+} else {
+  module.exports = SG();
+}
+
 SG.SetRootDir(path.join(__dirname, '..'), {autonomousMsgLoading: 'all'});
-module.exports = SG();