diff --git a/basic.c b/basic.c
index 3bf0227..3a7d6f7 100644
--- a/basic.c
+++ b/basic.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include "edef.h"
 #include "efunc.h"
 #include "line.h"
+#include "utf8.h"
 
 /*
  * This routine, given a pointer to a struct line, and the current cursor goal
@@ -74,8 +75,15 @@ int backchar(int f, int n)
 			curwp->w_dotp = lp;
 			curwp->w_doto = llength(lp);
 			curwp->w_flag |= WFMOVE;
-		} else
-			curwp->w_doto--;
+		} else {
+			do {
+				unsigned char c;
+				curwp->w_doto--;
+				c = lgetc(curwp->w_dotp, curwp->w_doto);
+				if (is_beginning_utf8(c))
+					break;
+			} while (curwp->w_doto);
+		}
 	}
 	return TRUE;
 }
@@ -100,14 +108,22 @@ int forwchar(int f, int n)
 	if (n < 0)
 		return backchar(f, -n);
 	while (n--) {
-		if (curwp->w_doto == llength(curwp->w_dotp)) {
+		int len = llength(curwp->w_dotp);
+		if (curwp->w_doto == len) {
 			if (curwp->w_dotp == curbp->b_linep)
 				return FALSE;
 			curwp->w_dotp = lforw(curwp->w_dotp);
 			curwp->w_doto = 0;
 			curwp->w_flag |= WFMOVE;
-		} else
-			curwp->w_doto++;
+		} else {
+			do {
+				unsigned char c;
+				curwp->w_doto++;
+				c = lgetc(curwp->w_dotp, curwp->w_doto);
+				if (is_beginning_utf8(c))
+					break;
+			} while (curwp->w_doto < len);
+		}
 	}
 	return TRUE;
 }
diff --git a/display.c b/display.c
index 82b4f84..676514d 100644
--- a/display.c
+++ b/display.c
@@ -528,7 +528,6 @@ static void updall(struct window *wp)
 void updpos(void)
 {
 	struct line *lp;
-	int c;
 	int i;
 
 	/* find the current row */
@@ -543,13 +542,13 @@ void updpos(void)
 	curcol = 0;
 	i = 0;
 	while (i < curwp->w_doto) {
-		c = lgetc(lp, i++);
+		unicode_t c;
+		int bytes;
+
+		bytes = utf8_to_unicode(lp->l_text, i, curwp->w_doto, &c);
+		i += bytes;
 		if (c == '\t')
 			curcol |= tabmask;
-		else if (c < 0x20 || c == 0x7f)
-			++curcol;
-		else if (c >= 0x80 && c <= 0xa0)
-			curcol+=2;
 
 		++curcol;
 	}
diff --git a/utf8.h b/utf8.h
index b60ccd2..c317a6a 100644
--- a/utf8.h
+++ b/utf8.h
@@ -6,4 +6,9 @@ typedef unsigned int unicode_t;
 unsigned utf8_to_unicode(char *line, unsigned index, unsigned len, unicode_t *res);
 unsigned unicode_to_utf8(unsigned int c, char *utf8);
 
+static inline int is_beginning_utf8(unsigned char c)
+{
+	return (c & 0xc0) != 0x80;
+}
+
 #endif