--- rxvt-unicode/src/xdefaults.C	2011/12/01 10:50:53	1.157
+++ rxvt-unicode/src/xdefaults.C	2011/12/02 09:02:05	1.158
@@ -692,7 +692,9 @@
         return -1;
     }
 
-  keyboard->register_user_translation (sym, state, arg);
+  wchar_t *ws = rxvt_mbstowcs (arg);
+  keyboard->register_user_translation (sym, state, ws);
+  free (ws);
   return 1;
 }