If you have the software from OpenOffice rather than your distro, it includes a file /opt/openoffice.org2.0/share/dict/ooo/dictionary.lst. That contains a list of dictionary files which OOo loads when it starts. The files are in groups of three - THES, HYPH and DICT.
Comment out (or delete after backing up the file) the dictionaries you do not want OOo to load. I did that recently so that only the English dictionaries are listed and the software loads much faster.
I do not know whether that would help to resolve the locale issues. I will scout around for some information and come back. The setting in Tools >Options should fix the problem so I am puzzled.
Edit: Except, of course, that it would be no surprise to me if the distro's version is broken.
I found this but have not studied it:
http://oooauthors.org/en/members/tut...oo/pdf-format/
You may need to install dictionaries:
http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewto...t=33345#133515