diff --git a/src/GF.hs b/src/GF.hs
index 8cbc45f68..5672b9150 100644
--- a/src/GF.hs
+++ b/src/GF.hs
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ welcomeMsgLib = do
 
 welcomeMsg lib = 
   "Welcome to " ++ authorMsg ++++ 
-  "If ä and ö (umlaut letters) look strange, see 'h -coding'." ++
+  "If \228 and \246 (umlaut letters) look strange, see 'h -coding'." ++
   "\n" ++ lib ++
   "\n\nType 'h' for help, and 'h [Command] for more detailed help.\n"
 
@@ -133,9 +133,9 @@ authorMsg = unlines [
  "Grammatical Framework, Version " ++ version,
  "Compiled " ++ today,
  "Copyright (c)", 
- "Björn Bringert, Håkan Burden, Hans-Joachim Daniels, Markus Forsberg",
- "Thomas Hallgren, Harald Hammarström, Kristofer Johannisson,", 
- "Janna Khegai, Peter Ljunglöf, Petri Mäenpää, and", 
+ "Bj\246rn Bringert, H\229kan Burden, Hans-Joachim Daniels, Markus Forsberg",
+ "Thomas Hallgren, Harald Hammarstr\246m, Kristofer Johannisson,", 
+ "Janna Khegai, Peter Ljungl\246f, Petri M\228enp\228\228, and", 
  "Aarne Ranta, 1998-2006, under GNU General Public License (GPL)",
  "Bug reports to aarne@cs.chalmers.se"
  ]
diff --git a/src/GF/Data/Glue.hs b/src/GF/Data/Glue.hs
index b3a766418..4f276222b 100644
--- a/src/GF/Data/Glue.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Data/Glue.hs
@@ -26,5 +26,5 @@ decomposeSimple t s = do
     else return $ concat [intersperse "&+" ws | ws <- ss]
 
 exTrie = tcompile (zip ws ws) where 
-  ws = words "ett två tre tjugo trettio hundra tusen"
+  ws = words "ett tv\229 tre tjugo trettio hundra tusen"
 
diff --git a/src/GF/Data/Map.hs b/src/GF/Data/Map.hs
index ea27826f6..c86c9ab55 100644
--- a/src/GF/Data/Map.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Data/Map.hs
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ empty = emptyTree
 
 -- | lookup operator.
 (!) :: Ord key => Map key el -> key -> Maybe el
-fm ! e = lookupTree e fm
+(!) fm e = lookupTree e fm
 
 -- | lookupMany operator.
 (!+) :: Ord key => Map key el -> [key] -> [Maybe el]
diff --git a/src/GF/Data/Parsers.hs b/src/GF/Data/Parsers.hs
index 7333510f8..d9920c3d2 100644
--- a/src/GF/Data/Parsers.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Data/Parsers.hs
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ pIdent = pLetter ... longestOfMany pAlphaPlusChar *** uncurry (:)
 
 pLetter, pDigit :: Parser Char Char
 pLetter = satisfy (`elem` (['A'..'Z'] ++ ['a'..'z'] ++ 
-                           ['À' .. 'Û'] ++ ['à' .. 'û'])) -- no such in Char
+                           ['\192' .. '\255'])) -- no such in Char
 pDigit  = satisfy isDigit
 
 pLetters :: Parser Char String
diff --git a/src/GF/Shell/HelpFile.hs b/src/GF/Shell/HelpFile.hs
index 39706e9d8..16603b3ff 100644
--- a/src/GF/Shell/HelpFile.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Shell/HelpFile.hs
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ txtHelpFile =
   "\n      -parser  use this parsing strategy" ++
   "\n      -number  return this many results at most" ++
   "\n  examples:" ++
-  "\n      p -cat=S -mcfg \"jag är gammal\"   -- parse an S with the MCFG" ++
+  "\n      p -cat=S -mcfg \"jag \228r gammal\"   -- parse an S with the MCFG" ++
   "\n      rf examples.txt | p -lines      -- parse each non-empty line of the file" ++
   "\n" ++
   "\nat, apply_transfer: at (Module.Fun | Fun)" ++
@@ -690,7 +690,7 @@ txtHelpFile =
   "\n    -mark=java           show tree structure with XML tags (used in gfeditor)" ++
   "\n" ++
   "\n-coding, Some grammars are in UTF-8, some in isolatin-1." ++
-  "\n    If the letters ä (a-umlaut) and ö (u-umlaut) look strange, either" ++
+  "\n    If the letters \228 (a-umlaut) and \246 (o-umlaut) look strange, either" ++
   "\n    change your terminal to isolatin-1, or rewrite the grammar with" ++
   "\n    'pg -utf8'." ++
   "\n" ++
diff --git a/src/GF/Text/Devanagari.hs b/src/GF/Text/Devanagari.hs
index 6bd23149f..bf4343cd0 100644
--- a/src/GF/Text/Devanagari.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Text/Devanagari.hs
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ digraphToUnicode (c1, c2) = case lookup (c1, c2) cc of Just c' -> c' ; _ -> c2
  where 
    cc = zip allDevanagariCodes allDevanagari
 
-digraphedDevanagari = " ~ M ;__ AA: II: UU:RoLoEvE~ EE:AvA~ OAU kkH ggHNG ccH jjH ñ TTH DDH N ttH ddH nn. ppH bbH m y rr. l LL. v ç S s h____ .-Sa: ii: uu:ror:eve~ eaiava~ oau ^____OM | -dddu______ Q X G zD.RH fy.R:L:mrmR#I#d#0#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#o" 
+digraphedDevanagari = " ~ M ;__ AA: II: UU:RoLoEvE~ EE:AvA~ OAU kkH ggHNG ccH jjH \241 TTH DDH N ttH ddH nn. ppH bbH m y rr. l LL. v \231 S s h____ .-Sa: ii: uu:ror:eve~ eaiava~ oau ^____OM | -dddu______ Q X G zD.RH fy.R:L:mrmR#I#d#0#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#o" 
 
 allDevanagariCodes :: [(Char, Char)]
 allDevanagariCodes = mkPairs digraphedDevanagari
diff --git a/src/GF/Text/Ethiopic.hs b/src/GF/Text/Ethiopic.hs
index 26ae4b933..81abbf719 100644
--- a/src/GF/Text/Ethiopic.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Text/Ethiopic.hs
@@ -38,18 +38,18 @@ spoolMarkup s = case s of
   '>' : cs -> ('>', -1) : adHocToDigraphWord cs  
   c1 : cs -> (c1, -1) : spoolMarkup cs
     
-isVowel x = elem x "AäuiïaeoI"
+isVowel x = elem x "A\228ui\239aeoI"
 
 vowelOrder :: Char -> Int
 vowelOrder x = case x of 
   'A' -> 0
-  'ä' -> 0
+  '\228' -> 0 -- ä
   'u' -> 1
   'i' -> 2
   'a' -> 3
   'e' -> 4
   'I' -> 5
-  'ï' -> 5
+  '\239' -> 5 -- ï
   'o' -> 6
   c   -> 5 -- vowelless 
 
diff --git a/src/GF/Text/LatinASupplement.hs b/src/GF/Text/LatinASupplement.hs
index de6e170ac..f42423c91 100644
--- a/src/GF/Text/LatinASupplement.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Text/LatinASupplement.hs
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ mkLatinASupplementWord str = case str of
   -- Turkish
   'g' : '%' : cs -> toEnum 0x011f : mkLatinASupplementWord cs
   'I' : cs -> toEnum 0x0131 : mkLatinASupplementWord cs
-  'c' : ',' : cs -> 'ç' : mkLatinASupplementWord cs
+  'c' : ',' : cs -> toEnum 0x00e7 : mkLatinASupplementWord cs
   -- Polish
   'e' : ',' : cs -> toEnum 0x0119 : mkLatinASupplementWord cs
   'a' : ',' : cs -> toEnum 0x0105 : mkLatinASupplementWord cs
diff --git a/src/GF/Text/OCSCyrillic.hs b/src/GF/Text/OCSCyrillic.hs
index 7bbd1a773..0d4696944 100644
--- a/src/GF/Text/OCSCyrillic.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Text/OCSCyrillic.hs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ mkOCSCyrillicWord str = case str of
   [] -> []
   ' ' : cs -> ' ' : mkOCSCyrillicWord cs
   '<' : cs -> '<' : spoolMarkup cs  
-  'ä' : cs -> toEnum 0x0463 : mkOCSCyrillicWord cs
+  '\228' : cs -> toEnum 0x0463 : mkOCSCyrillicWord cs -- ä
   'j' : 'e' : '~' : cs -> toEnum 0x0469 : mkOCSCyrillicWord cs 
   'j' : 'o' : '~' : cs -> toEnum 0x046d : mkOCSCyrillicWord cs
   'j' : 'e' : cs -> toEnum 0x0465 : mkOCSCyrillicWord cs
diff --git a/src/GF/Text/Russian.hs b/src/GF/Text/Russian.hs
index 5e49d2fbb..c4f1bfd89 100644
--- a/src/GF/Text/Russian.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Text/Russian.hs
@@ -34,10 +34,21 @@ mkRussianChar chars c = case lookup c cc of Just c' -> c' ; _ -> c
  where 
    cc = zip chars allRussian
 
+allRussianCodes :: [Char]
 allRussianCodes = 
- "ÅåABVGDEXZIJKLMNOPRSTUFHCQW£}!*ÖYÄabvgdexzijklmnoprstufhcqw#01'öyä"
+ -- changed to Ints to work with Haskell compilers e.g. GHC 6.5 CVS
+ -- which expect source files to be in UTF-8
+ -- /bringert 2006-05-19
+ -- "ÅåABVGDEXZIJKLMNOPRSTUFHCQW£}!*ÖYÄabvgdexzijklmnoprstufhcqw#01'öyä"
+ map toEnum [197,229,65,66,86,71,68,69,88,90,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,82,83,84,85,70,72,67,81,87,163,125,33,42,214,89,196,97,98,118,103,100,101,120,122,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,114,115,116,117,102,104,99,113,119,35,48,49,39,246,121,228]
+
+allRussianKOI8 :: [Char]
 allRussianKOI8 =
- "^@áâ÷çäåöúéêëìíîïðòóôõæèãþûýøùÿüàñÁÂ×ÇÄÅÖÚÉÊËÌÍÎÏÐÒÓÔÕÆÈÃÞÛÝØÙßÜÀÑ"
+ -- changed to Ints to work with Haskell compilers e.g. GHC 6.5 CVS
+ -- which expect source files to be in UTF-8
+ -- /bringert 2006-05-19
+ -- "^@áâ÷çäåöúéêëìíîïðòóôõæèãþûýøùÿüàñÁÂ×ÇÄÅÖÚÉÊËÌÍÎÏÐÒÓÔÕÆÈÃÞÛÝØÙßÜÀÑ"
+ map toEnum [94,64,225,226,247,231,228,229,246,250,233,234,235,236,237,238,239,240,242,243,244,245,230,232,227,254,251,253,248,249,255,252,224,241,193,194,215,199,196,197,214,218,201,202,203,204,205,206,207,208,210,211,212,213,198,200,195,222,219,221,216,217,223,220,192,209]
 
 allRussian :: String
 allRussian = (map toEnum (0x0401:0x0451:[0x0410 .. 0x044f])) -- Ëë in odd places
diff --git a/src/GF/Text/Tamil.hs b/src/GF/Text/Tamil.hs
index e938247c0..8ee171acf 100644
--- a/src/GF/Text/Tamil.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Text/Tamil.hs
@@ -73,5 +73,5 @@ allTamilCodes = mkPairs digraphedTamil
 allTamil :: String
 allTamil = (map toEnum [0x0b85 .. 0x0bfa]) 
 
-digraphedTamil = " AA: II: UU:______ EE:AI__ OO:AU k______ G c__ j__ ñ T______ N t______ V n p______ m y r l L M v__ s S h________a: ii: uu:______ ee:ai__ oo:au .__________________ :______________________________#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9^1^2^3=d=m=y=d=c==ru##"
+digraphedTamil = " AA: II: UU:______ EE:AI__ OO:AU k______ G c__ j__ \241 T______ N t______ V n p______ m y r l L M v__ s S h________a: ii: uu:______ ee:ai__ oo:au .__________________ :______________________________#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9^1^2^3=d=m=y=d=c==ru##"
 
diff --git a/src/GF/Text/Text.hs b/src/GF/Text/Text.hs
index a2a69f70c..b55355c20 100644
--- a/src/GF/Text/Text.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Text/Text.hs
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ formatAsTextGen tag para = unwords . format . cap . words where
   major = flip elem (map singleton ".!?") 
   minor = flip elem (map singleton ",:;)")
   openp = all (flip elem "(")
-  spanish = all (flip elem "¡¿")
+  spanish = all (flip elem "\161\191")
 
 formatAsCode :: String -> String
 formatAsCode = rend 0 . words where
@@ -125,10 +125,10 @@ performBindsFinnish :: String -> String
 performBindsFinnish = performBindsOpt vowelHarmony where
   vowelHarmony w p = if any (flip elem "aouAOU") w then p else map toFront p
   toFront c = case c of
-    'A' -> 'Ä'
-    'O' -> 'Ö'
-    'a' -> 'ä'
-    'o' -> 'ö'
+    'A' -> '\196'
+    'O' -> '\214'
+    'a' -> '\228'
+    'o' -> '\246'
     _ -> c
 
 unStringLit :: String -> String
diff --git a/src/HelpFile b/src/HelpFile
index 3b3a443ff..df785bda2 100644
--- a/src/HelpFile
+++ b/src/HelpFile
@@ -661,7 +661,7 @@ q, quit: q
     -mark=java           show tree structure with XML tags (used in gfeditor)
 
 -coding, Some grammars are in UTF-8, some in isolatin-1.
-    If the letters ä (a-umlaut) and ö (u-umlaut) look strange, either
+    If the letters ä (a-umlaut) and ö (o-umlaut) look strange, either
     change your terminal to isolatin-1, or rewrite the grammar with
     'pg -utf8'.
 
diff --git a/src/tools/MkHelpFile.hs b/src/tools/MkHelpFile.hs
index 45e9d302a..a0fafa918 100644
--- a/src/tools/MkHelpFile.hs
+++ b/src/tools/MkHelpFile.hs
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ mkOne s = "  \"" ++ pref s ++ (escs s) ++ "\" ++"
    pref _ = "\\n" ---
    escs [] = []
    escs (c:cs) | elem c "\"\\" = '\\':c:escs cs
+               | fromEnum c > 127 = "\\" ++show (fromEnum c)++escs cs
    escs (c:cs) = c:escs cs
 
 helpHeader = unlines [