--- a/src/gfx.cpp
+++ b/src/gfx.cpp
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@
 			if (w >= maxw) {
 				/* string got too big... insert dotdotdot */
 				ddd_pos[0] = ddd_pos[1] = ddd_pos[2] = '.';
-				ddd_pos[3] = 0;
+				ddd_pos[3] = '\0';
 				return ddd_w;
 			}
 		} else {
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@
 		for (;;) {
 			WChar c = Utf8Consume((const char **)&str);
 			/* whitespace is where we will insert the line-break */
-			if (c == ' ') last_space = str;
+			if (IsWhitespace(c)) last_space = str;
 
 			if (IsPrintable(c)) {
 				w += GetCharacterWidth(size, c);
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@
 				 * 2. In all other cases force a linebreak at the last seen whitespace */
 				if (w > maxw) {
 					if (last_space == NULL) {
-						str[-1] = '\0';
+						*Utf8PrevChar(str) = '\0';
 						return num + (size << 16);
 					}
 					str = last_space;
@@ -469,9 +469,17 @@
 			}
 		}
 end_of_inner_loop:
-		/* string didn't fit on line, so 'dummy' terminate and increase linecount */
+		/* String didn't fit on line (or a '\n' was encountered), so 'dummy' terminate
+		 * and increase linecount. We use Utf8PrevChar() as also non 1 char long
+		 * whitespace seperators are supported */
 		num++;
-		str[-1] = '\0';
+		char *s = Utf8PrevChar(str);
+		*s++ = '\0';
+
+		/* In which case (see above) we will shift remainder to left and close the gap */
+		if (str - s >= 1) {
+			for (; str[-1] != '\0';) *s++ = *str++;
+		}
 	}
 }
 

--- a/src/string.cpp
+++ b/src/string.cpp
@@ -268,3 +268,29 @@
 	*buf = '?';
 	return 1;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Properly terminate an UTF8 string to some maximum length
+ * @param s string to check if it needs additional trimming
+ * @param maxlen the maximum length the buffer can have.
+ * @return the new length in bytes of the string (eg. strlen(new_string))
+ * @NOTE maxlen is the string length _INCLUDING_ the terminating '\0'
+ */
+size_t Utf8TrimString(char *s, size_t maxlen)
+{
+	size_t length = 0;
+
+	for (const char *ptr = strchr(s, '\0'); *s != '\0';) {
+		size_t len = Utf8EncodedCharLen(*s);
+		if (len == 0) break; // invalid encoding
+
+		/* Take care when a hard cutoff was made for the string and
+		 * the last UTF8 sequence is invalid */
+		if (length + len >= maxlen || (s + len > ptr)) break;
+		s += len;
+		length += len;
+	}
+
+	*s = '\0';
+	return length;
+}
\ No newline at end of file

--- a/src/string.h
+++ b/src/string.h
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@
 
 size_t Utf8Decode(WChar *c, const char *s);
 size_t Utf8Encode(char *buf, WChar c);
+size_t Utf8TrimString(char *s, size_t maxlen);
 
 
 static inline WChar Utf8Consume(const char **s)
@@ -100,6 +101,23 @@
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * Return the length of an UTF-8 encoded value based on a single char. This
+ * char should be the first byte of the UTF-8 encoding. If not, or encoding
+ * is invalid, return value is 0
+ */
+static inline size_t Utf8EncodedCharLen(char c)
+{
+	if (GB(c, 3, 5) == 0x1E) return 4;
+	if (GB(c, 4, 4) == 0x0E) return 3;
+	if (GB(c, 5, 3) == 0x06) return 2;
+	if (GB(c, 7, 1) == 0x00) return 1;
+
+	/* Invalid UTF8 start encoding */
+	return 0;
+}
+
+
 /* Check if the given character is part of a UTF8 sequence */
 static inline bool IsUtf8Part(char c)
 {
@@ -129,5 +147,20 @@
 	return true;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Check whether UNICODE character is whitespace or not
+ * @param c UNICODE character to check
+ * @return a boolean value whether 'c' is a whitespace character or not
+ * @see http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/category/Zs/list.htm
+ */
+static inline bool IsWhitespace(WChar c)
+{
+	return
+	  c == 0x0020 /* SPACE */ ||
+	  c == 0x00A0 /* NO-BREAK SPACE */ ||
+	  c == 0x3000 /* IDEOGRAPHIC SPACE */
+	;
+}
+
 
 #endif /* STRING_H */

--- a/src/texteff.cpp
+++ b/src/texteff.cpp
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 #include "date.h"
 
 enum {
-	MAX_TEXTMESSAGE_LENGTH = 150,
+	MAX_TEXTMESSAGE_LENGTH = 200,
 	MAX_TEXT_MESSAGES      =  30,
 	MAX_CHAT_MESSAGES      =  10,
 	MAX_ANIMATED_TILES     = 256,
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@
 	vsnprintf(buf, lengthof(buf), message, va);
 	va_end(va);
 
+
+	Utf8TrimString(buf, MAX_TEXTMESSAGE_LENGTH);
+
 	/* Force linebreaks for strings that are too long */
 	lines = GB(FormatStringLinebreaks(buf, _textmsg_box.width - 8), 0, 16) + 1;
 	if (lines >= MAX_CHAT_MESSAGES) return;