diff --git a/frontend/ui/reader/readerdictionary.lua b/frontend/ui/reader/readerdictionary.lua
index 17e3f7769..ef3f512c9 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/reader/readerdictionary.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/reader/readerdictionary.lua
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ function ReaderDictionary:stardictLookup(word)
 		word = string.gsub(word, "%p+$", '')
 		DEBUG("stripped word:", word)
 		-- escape quotes and other funny characters in word
-		local std_out = io.popen("./sdcv -nj "..("%q"):format(word), "r")
+		local std_out = io.popen("./sdcv --utf8-input --utf8-output -nj "..("%q"):format(word), "r")
 		local results_str = std_out:read("*all")
 		if results_str then
 			--DEBUG("result str:", word, results_str)