diff --git a/gooey/gui/application.py b/gooey/gui/application.py
index ca654ea..08a673c 100644
--- a/gooey/gui/application.py
+++ b/gooey/gui/application.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def run(build_spec):
 def build_app(build_spec):
   app = wx.App(False)
 
-  i18n.load(build_spec['language_dir'], build_spec['language'])
+  i18n.load(build_spec['language_dir'], build_spec['language'], build_spec['encoding'])
   imagesPaths = image_repository.loadImages(build_spec['image_dir'])
   gapp = GooeyApplication(merge(build_spec, imagesPaths))
   # wx.lib.inspection.InspectionTool().Show()
diff --git a/gooey/gui/lang/i18n.py b/gooey/gui/lang/i18n.py
index d891a88..02f360a 100644
--- a/gooey/gui/lang/i18n.py
+++ b/gooey/gui/lang/i18n.py
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ __all__ = ['load', '_']
 
 _DICTIONARY = None
 
-def load(language_dir, filename):
+def load(language_dir, filename, encoding):
   ''' Open and return the supplied json file '''
   global _DICTIONARY
   try:
     json_file = filename + '.json'
-    with io.open(os.path.join(language_dir, json_file), 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+    with io.open(os.path.join(language_dir, json_file), 'r', encoding=encoding) as f:
       _DICTIONARY = json.load(f)
   except IOError:
     raise IOError('{0} Language file not found at location {1}. '