diff --git a/src/GF/Shell/CommandL.hs b/src/GF/Shell/CommandL.hs
index 36e8a5a6d..2bb240018 100644
--- a/src/GF/Shell/CommandL.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Shell/CommandL.hs
@@ -44,10 +44,13 @@ getCommand = do
   s <- getLine
   return $ pCommand s
 
-getCommandUTF :: IO Command
-getCommandUTF = do
+-- decodes UTF8 if u==False, i.e. if the grammar does not use UTF8;
+-- used in the Java GUI, which always uses UTF8
+
+getCommandUTF :: Bool -> IO Command
+getCommandUTF u = do
   s <- getLine
-  return $ pCommand s  -- the GUI is doing this: $ decodeUTF8 s 
+  return $ pCommand $ if u then s else decodeUTF8 s 
 
 pCommand = pCommandWords . words where 
   pCommandWords s = case s of
diff --git a/src/GF/Shell/Commands.hs b/src/GF/Shell/Commands.hs
index 5a16c4b59..e96ebd588 100644
--- a/src/GF/Shell/Commands.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Shell/Commands.hs
@@ -441,6 +441,15 @@ displaySStateJavaX isNew env state = encodeUTF8 $ mkUnicode $
     Just lang -> optDecodeUTF8 (stateGrammarOfLang env (language lang)) 
     _ -> id
 
+-- the env is UTF8 if the display language is 
+--- should be independent
+isCEnvUTF8 :: CEnv -> SState -> Bool
+isCEnvUTF8 env st = maybe False id $ do
+   lang <- getOptVal opts menuDisplay
+   co   <- getOptVal (stateOptions (stateGrammarOfLang env (language lang))) uniCoding
+   return $ co == "utf8"
+  where
+    opts = addOptions (optsSState st) (globalOptions env)
 
 langAbstract = language "Abstract"
 langXML      = language "XML"
diff --git a/src/GF/Shell/JGF.hs b/src/GF/Shell/JGF.hs
index 44b6aad2b..f1ed6bfb7 100644
--- a/src/GF/Shell/JGF.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Shell/JGF.hs
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ sessionLineJ isNew env = do
 ---- the Boolean is a temporary hack to have two parallel GUIs
 editLoopJnewX :: Bool -> CEnv -> SState -> IO ()
 editLoopJnewX isNew env state = do
-  c <- getCommandUTF
+  c <- getCommandUTF (isCEnvUTF8 env state) ----
   case c of
     CQuit -> return ()