I would recommend that you use POSIX::strftime which has the added advantage of using the appropriate locale:

use POSIX qw(locale_h);
                                                                      
+          
foreach my $locale (qw(en_GB de_DE fr_FR es_ES))
{
   POSIX::setlocale(LC_TIME,$locale);
   print POSIX::strftime("%a\n", localtime);
}
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/J\