diff --git a/change_log.txt b/change_log.txt
index 574c0266..eb9ae648 100644
--- a/change_log.txt
+++ b/change_log.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+07/07/2010
+- bugfix the truncate modifier needs to check if the string is utf-8 encoded or not
+
 06/07/2010
 - create exception on recursive {extends} calls
 - fixed reported line number at "unexpected closing tag " exception
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.truncate.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.truncate.php
index 0ad5f10f..af963074 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.truncate.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.truncate.php
@@ -1,29 +1,29 @@
 <?php
 /**
-* Smarty plugin
-* 
-* @package Smarty
-* @subpackage PluginsModifier
-*/
+ * Smarty plugin
+ * 
+ * @package Smarty
+ * @subpackage PluginsModifier
+ */
 
 /**
-* Smarty truncate modifier plugin
-* 
-* Type:     modifier<br>
-* Name:     truncate<br>
-* Purpose:  Truncate a string to a certain length if necessary,
-*             optionally splitting in the middle of a word, and
-*             appending the $etc string or inserting $etc into the middle.
-* 
-* @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.truncate.php truncate (Smarty online manual)
-* @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
-* @param string $string input string
-* @param integer $length lenght of truncated text
-* @param string $etc end string
-* @param boolean $break_words truncate at word boundary
-* @param boolean $middle truncate in the middle of text
-* @return string truncated string
-*/
+ * Smarty truncate modifier plugin
+ * 
+ * Type:     modifier<br>
+ * Name:     truncate<br>
+ * Purpose:  Truncate a string to a certain length if necessary,
+ *               optionally splitting in the middle of a word, and
+ *               appending the $etc string or inserting $etc into the middle.
+ * 
+ * @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.truncate.php truncate (Smarty online manual)
+ * @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
+ * @param string $string input string
+ * @param integer $length lenght of truncated text
+ * @param string $etc end string
+ * @param boolean $break_words truncate at word boundary
+ * @param boolean $middle truncate in the middle of text
+ * @return string truncated string
+ */
 function smarty_modifier_truncate($string, $length = 80, $etc = '...',
     $break_words = false, $middle = false)
 {
@@ -31,34 +31,37 @@ function smarty_modifier_truncate($string, $length = 80, $etc = '...',
         return '';
 
     if (is_callable('mb_strlen')) {
-        if (mb_strlen($string) > $length) {
-            $length -= min($length, mb_strlen($etc));
-            if (!$break_words && !$middle) {
-                $string = preg_replace('/\s+?(\S+)?$/u', '', mb_substr($string, 0, $length + 1));
-            } 
-            if (!$middle) {
-                return mb_substr($string, 0, $length) . $etc;
+        if (mb_detect_encoding($text, 'UTF-8, ISO-8859-1') === 'UTF-8') {
+            // $string has utf-8 encoding
+            if (mb_strlen($string) > $length) {
+                $length -= min($length, mb_strlen($etc));
+                if (!$break_words && !$middle) {
+                    $string = preg_replace('/\s+?(\S+)?$/u', '', mb_substr($string, 0, $length + 1));
+                } 
+                if (!$middle) {
+                    return mb_substr($string, 0, $length) . $etc;
+                } else {
+                    return mb_substr($string, 0, $length / 2) . $etc . mb_substr($string, - $length / 2);
+                } 
             } else {
-                return mb_substr($string, 0, $length / 2) . $etc . mb_substr($string, - $length / 2);
+                return $string;
             } 
+        } 
+    } 
+    // $string has utf-8 no encoding
+    if (strlen($string) > $length) {
+        $length -= min($length, strlen($etc));
+        if (!$break_words && !$middle) {
+            $string = preg_replace('/\s+?(\S+)?$/', '', substr($string, 0, $length + 1));
+        } 
+        if (!$middle) {
+            return substr($string, 0, $length) . $etc;
         } else {
-            return $string;
+            return substr($string, 0, $length / 2) . $etc . substr($string, - $length / 2);
         } 
     } else {
-        if (strlen($string) > $length) {
-            $length -= min($length, strlen($etc));
-            if (!$break_words && !$middle) {
-                $string = preg_replace('/\s+?(\S+)?$/', '', substr($string, 0, $length + 1));
-            } 
-            if (!$middle) {
-                return substr($string, 0, $length) . $etc;
-            } else {
-                return substr($string, 0, $length / 2) . $etc . substr($string, - $length / 2);
-            } 
-        } else {
-            return $string;
-        } 
+        return $string;
     } 
 } 
 
-?>
+?>
\ No newline at end of file