diff --git a/system/helpers/text_helper.php b/system/helpers/text_helper.php
index 96afd4c..197bcb1 100644
--- a/system/helpers/text_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/text_helper.php
@@ -366,12 +366,19 @@
 {
 	function convert_accented_characters($str)
 	{
-		if ( ! file_exists(APPPATH.'config/foreign_chars'.EXT))
+		if ( ! file_exists(APPPATH.'config/foreign_chars'.EXT) AND ! file_exists(APPPATH.'config/'.ENVIRONMENT.'/foreign_chars'.EXT))
 		{
 			return $str;
 		}
 
-		include APPPATH.'config/foreign_chars'.EXT;
+		if (file_exists(APPPATH.'config/'.ENVIRONMENT.'/foreign_chars'.EXT))
+		{
+		    include APPPATH.'config/'.ENVIRONMENT.'/foreign_chars'.EXT;
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			include APPPATH.'config/foreign_chars'.EXT;
+		}
 
 		if ( ! isset($foreign_characters))
 		{