diff --git a/src/extension/internal/pdfinput/svg-builder.cpp b/src/extension/internal/pdfinput/svg-builder.cpp
index b958354..57f3811 100644
--- a/src/extension/internal/pdfinput/svg-builder.cpp
+++ b/src/extension/internal/pdfinput/svg-builder.cpp
@@ -1292,7 +1292,7 @@ void SvgBuilder::_flushText() {
 
         // Append the character to the text buffer
 	if (0 != glyph.code[0]) {
-            text_buffer.append((char *)&glyph.code, 1);
+            text_buffer.append(glyph.code, 1);
 	}
 
         glyphs_in_a_row++;
@@ -1350,18 +1350,21 @@ void SvgBuilder::addChar(GfxState *state, double x, double y,
     _text_position += delta;
 
     // Convert the character to UTF-8 since that's our SVG document's encoding
-    static UnicodeMap *u_map = NULL;
-    if ( u_map == NULL ) {
-        GooString *enc = new GooString("UTF-8");
-        u_map = globalParams->getUnicodeMap(enc);
-        u_map->incRefCnt();
-        delete enc;
-    }
-    int code_size = 0;
-    for ( int i = 0 ; i < uLen ; i++ ) {
-        code_size += u_map->mapUnicode(u[i], (char *)&new_glyph.code[code_size], sizeof(new_glyph.code) - code_size);
-    }
-    new_glyph.code_size = code_size;
+    gunichar2 uu[8];
+    glong written;
+
+    for (int i = 0 ; i < uLen ; i++) {
+	uu[i] = u[i];
+    }
+
+    new_glyph.code = g_utf16_to_utf8(uu, uLen, NULL, &written, NULL);
+
+    if (written != NULL) {
+        new_glyph.code_size = (int) written;
+    } else {
+        new_glyph.code[0] = 0;
+        new_glyph.code_size = 0;
+    }
 
     // Copy current style if it has changed since the previous glyph
     if (_invalidated_style || _glyphs.size() == 0 ) {
diff --git a/src/extension/internal/pdfinput/svg-builder.h b/src/extension/internal/pdfinput/svg-builder.h
index 3b9192d..952a190 100644
--- a/src/extension/internal/pdfinput/svg-builder.h
+++ b/src/extension/internal/pdfinput/svg-builder.h
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ struct SvgGlyph {
     Geom::Point text_position; // Absolute glyph coords in text space
     double dx, dy;  // Advance values
     double rise;    // Text rise parameter
-    char code[8];   // UTF-8 coded character
+    char* code;     // UTF-8 coded character
     int code_size;
     bool is_space;