diff --git a/src/GrampsLocale/_GrampsLocale.py b/src/GrampsLocale/_GrampsLocale.py
index 5b34e7aee..46e71a4db 100644
--- a/src/GrampsLocale/_GrampsLocale.py
+++ b/src/GrampsLocale/_GrampsLocale.py
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ try:
 except:
     import time
 
-    if constfunc.win():
+    if constfunc.win() or constfunc.mac():
         codeset = locale.getlocale()[1]
     else:
         codeset = locale.getpreferredencoding()
diff --git a/src/MacTransUtils.py b/src/MacTransUtils.py
index 615c3e9f6..6a73f246b 100644
--- a/src/MacTransUtils.py
+++ b/src/MacTransUtils.py
@@ -260,3 +260,4 @@ def mac_setup_localization(dir, domain):
             lang = mac_resolve_locale(collation)
         if lang != None:
             os.environ["LANG"] = lang
+            os.environ["LC_CTYPE"] = lang + ".UTF-8"
diff --git a/src/Utils.py b/src/Utils.py
index beb354b3e..7d35ac312 100644
--- a/src/Utils.py
+++ b/src/Utils.py
@@ -129,7 +129,10 @@ def fix_encoding(value):
             return unicode(value)
         except:
             try:
-                codeset = locale.getpreferredencoding()
+                if constfunc.mac():
+                    codeset = locale.getlocale()[1]
+                else:
+                    codeset = locale.getpreferredencoding()
             except:
                 codeset = "UTF-8"
             return unicode(value, codeset)
@@ -308,7 +311,9 @@ def find_file( filename):
     
     # Build list of alternate encodings
     encodings = set()
-
+    #Darwin returns "mac roman" for preferredencoding, but since it
+    #returns "UTF-8" for filesystemencoding, and that's first, this
+    #works.
     for enc in [sys.getfilesystemencoding, locale.getpreferredencoding]:
         try:
             encodings.add(enc)