diff --git a/src/profile_window.py b/src/profile_window.py
index c68b450ef..729cb01c4 100644
--- a/src/profile_window.py
+++ b/src/profile_window.py
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ class ProfileWindow:
             else:
                 if i == 'DESC':
                     self.xml.get_object('DESC_textview').get_buffer().set_text(
-                        vcard_[i], len(vcard[i]))
+                        vcard_[i], len(vcard[i].encode('utf-8')))
                 else:
                     self.set_value(i + '_entry', vcard_[i])
         if self.update_progressbar_timeout_id is not None:
diff --git a/src/vcard.py b/src/vcard.py
index 4eee692c9..1db27d43b 100644
--- a/src/vcard.py
+++ b/src/vcard.py
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ class VcardWindow:
             else:
                 if i == 'DESC':
                     self.xml.get_object('DESC_textview').get_buffer().set_text(
-                            vcard[i], len(vcard[i]))
+                        vcard[i], len(vcard[i].encode('utf-8')))
                 elif i != 'jid': # Do not override jid_label
                     self.set_value(i + '_label', vcard[i])
         self.vcard_arrived = True