diff --git a/make/gettext.mk b/make/gettext.mk
index 0effd477..02097f9e 100644
--- a/make/gettext.mk
+++ b/make/gettext.mk
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ clean-mo:
 	rm -f *.mo *.tmp
 
 $(GETTEXT_POT): $(GETTEXT_INPUT_FILES)
-	xgettext --package-name $(PROJECT) --package-version $(DIST_VERSION) \
+	xgettext --from-code=utf-8 --package-name $(PROJECT) --package-version $(DIST_VERSION) \
 		--default-domain $(PROJECT) $(addprefix -k,$(GETTEXT_KEYWORDS)) \
 		--output $@.tmp $(GETTEXT_INPUT_FILES)
 	mv $@.tmp $@