diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d8a23ed69..1a9f55b1c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ Canonical reference for changes, improvements, and bugfixes for Boundary.
 
 ### Bug Fixes
 
+* cli: Fix database init when locale isn't english 
+  ([Issue](https://github.com/hashicorp/boundary/issues/729))
+  ([PR](https://github.com/hashicorp/boundary/pull/736))
 * cli: Fix hyphenation in help output for resources with compound names
   ([Issue](https://github.com/hashicorp/boundary/issues/686))
   ([PR](https://github.com/hashicorp/boundary/pull/689))
diff --git a/internal/cmd/commands/database/init.go b/internal/cmd/commands/database/init.go
index b1b076afd..da193292d 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/commands/database/init.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/commands/database/init.go
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ func (c *InitCommand) Run(args []string) (retCode int) {
 				c.UI.Info("Database already initialized.")
 				return 0
 			}
-		case strings.Contains(err.Error(), "does not exist"):
+		case db.IsMissingTableError(err):
 			// Doesn't exist so we continue on
 		default:
 			c.UI.Error(fmt.Errorf("Error querying database for init status: %w", err).Error())
diff --git a/internal/db/error.go b/internal/db/error.go
index 1d9f62177..90b645f36 100644
--- a/internal/db/error.go
+++ b/internal/db/error.go
@@ -89,3 +89,15 @@ func IsNotNullError(err error) bool {
 
 	return false
 }
+
+// IsMissingTableError returns a boolean indicating whether the error is known
+// to report a undefined/missing table violation.
+func IsMissingTableError(err error) bool {
+	var pqError *pq.Error
+	if errors.As(err, &pqError) {
+		if pqError.Code == "42P01" {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/internal/db/error_test.go b/internal/db/error_test.go
index cd2610d76..f68cd8f16 100644
--- a/internal/db/error_test.go
+++ b/internal/db/error_test.go
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 package db
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/lib/pq"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
 func TestError_IsUnique(t *testing.T) {
@@ -124,3 +126,55 @@ func TestError_IsNotNullError(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestError_IsMissingTableError(t *testing.T) {
+	var tests = []struct {
+		name string
+		in   error
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "nil-error",
+			in:   nil,
+			want: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "postgres-is-unique-not-not-null",
+			in: &pq.Error{
+				Code: pq.ErrorCode("23505"),
+			},
+			want: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "postgres-is-check-constraint-not-not-null",
+			in: &pq.Error{
+				Code: pq.ErrorCode("23514"),
+			},
+			want: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "postgres-is-missing-table",
+			in: &pq.Error{
+				Code: pq.ErrorCode("42P01"),
+			},
+			want: true,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		tt := tt
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			assert := assert.New(t)
+			err := tt.in
+			got := IsMissingTableError(err)
+			assert.Equal(tt.want, got)
+		})
+	}
+	t.Run("query-missing-table", func(t *testing.T) {
+		assert, require := assert.New(t), require.New(t)
+		conn, _ := TestSetup(t, "postgres")
+		rw := New(conn)
+		_, err := rw.Query(context.Background(), "select * from non_existent_table", nil)
+		require.Error(err)
+		assert.True(IsMissingTableError(err))
+	})
+}