diff --git a/po/Makevars b/po/Makevars
index 12376cf..8ef2d06 100644
--- a/po/Makevars
+++ b/po/Makevars
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ subdir = po
 top_builddir = ..
 
 # These options get passed to xgettext
-XGETTEXT_OPTIONS = --keyword=_ --keyword=N_
+XGETTEXT_OPTIONS = --from-code=UTF-8 --keyword=_ --keyword=N_ --width=132
 
 # Copyright holder that gets inserted into the header of the
 # $(DOMAIN).pot file.