diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index eb25cbb12..03b631ce7 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2010-01-18  Wolfgang Sourdeau  <wsourdeau@inverse.ca>
+
+	* Main/sogod.m (main): set the "GNUSTEP_STRING_ENCODING"
+	environment variable to NSUTF8StringEncoding to properly decode
+	the user defaults strings in UTF8.
+
 2010-01-15  Wolfgang Sourdeau  <wsourdeau@inverse.ca>
 
 	* SoObjects/SOGo/SOGoUserSettings.m
diff --git a/Main/sogod.m b/Main/sogod.m
index 047a64623..4a123b938 100644
--- a/Main/sogod.m
+++ b/Main/sogod.m
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
   SOGoSystemDefaults *sd;
   int rc;
 
+  /* Here we work around a bug in GNUstep which decode XML user defaults using
+     the system encoding, rather than honouring the encoding specified in the
+     file. */
+  putenv ("GNUSTEP_STRING_ENCODING=NSUTF8StringEncoding");
+
   pool = [NSAutoreleasePool new];
 
   if (getuid() > 0)