diff --git a/docs/NEWS b/docs/NEWS
index 4cfffede..df4f2540 100644
--- a/docs/NEWS
+++ b/docs/NEWS
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 Version 1.7 ()
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+    * For Blogs running on a non-UTF-8 language, set a Smarty constant
+      to indicate the actually used charset. 
+
     * Added to use MyISAM handler for s9y tables (we do not use InnoDB
       features, but rely on MyISAM fulltext)
       
diff --git a/include/functions_smarty.inc.php b/include/functions_smarty.inc.php
index bcf3452d..9eb531db 100644
--- a/include/functions_smarty.inc.php
+++ b/include/functions_smarty.inc.php
@@ -873,8 +873,13 @@ function serendipity_smarty_init($vars = array()) {
             $prev_smarty = $_SESSION['no_smarty'];
             $_SESSION['no_smarty'] = true;
 
+            if (LANG_CHARSET != 'UTF-8') {
+                @define('SMARTY_RESOURCE_CHAR_SET', LANG_CHARSET);
+            }
+            
             // Default Smarty Engine will be used
             @define('SMARTY_DIR', S9Y_PEAR_PATH . 'Smarty/libs/');
+            
             if (!class_exists('Smarty')) {
                 include SMARTY_DIR . 'Smarty.class.php';
             }