diff --git a/system/helpers/inflector_helper.php b/system/helpers/inflector_helper.php
index 210d0fd..b44594e 100644
--- a/system/helpers/inflector_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/inflector_helper.php
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@
 	 */
 	function underscore($str)
 	{
-		return preg_replace('/[\s]+/', '_', strtolower(trim($str)));
+		return preg_replace('/[\s]+/', '_', trim(MB_ENABLED ? mb_strtolower($str) : strtolower($str)));
 	}
 }
 
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@
 	 */
 	function humanize($str, $separator = '_')
 	{
-		return ucwords(preg_replace('/['.$separator.']+/', ' ', strtolower(trim($str))));
+		return ucwords(preg_replace('/['.$separator.']+/', ' ', trim(MB_ENABLED ? mb_strtolower($str) : strtolower($str))));
 	}
 }
 
@@ -223,12 +223,13 @@
 	 */
 	function is_countable($word)
 	{
-		return ! in_array(strtolower($word),
-					array(
-						'equipment', 'information', 'rice', 'money',
-						'species', 'series', 'fish', 'meta'
-					)
-			);
+		return ! in_array(
+			strtolower($word),
+			array(
+				'equipment', 'information', 'rice', 'money',
+				'species', 'series', 'fish', 'meta'
+			)
+		);
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/system/helpers/text_helper.php b/system/helpers/text_helper.php
index 45e8ae7..76e1735 100644
--- a/system/helpers/text_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/text_helper.php
@@ -445,14 +445,14 @@
 		{
 			// Is the line within the allowed character count?
 			// If so we'll join it to the output and continue
-			if (strlen($line) <= $charlim)
+			if (mb_strlen($line) <= $charlim)
 			{
 				$output .= $line."\n";
 				continue;
 			}
 
 			$temp = '';
-			while ((strlen($line)) > $charlim)
+			while (mb_strlen($line) > $charlim)
 			{
 				// If the over-length word is a URL we won't wrap it
 				if (preg_match('!\[url.+\]|://|wwww.!', $line))
@@ -461,8 +461,8 @@
 				}
 
 				// Trim the word down
-				$temp .= substr($line, 0, $charlim - 1);
-				$line = substr($line, $charlim - 1);
+				$temp .= mb_substr($line, 0, $charlim - 1);
+				$line = mb_substr($line, $charlim - 1);
 			}
 
 			// If $temp contains data it means we had to split up an over-length
@@ -512,21 +512,21 @@
 		$str = trim(strip_tags($str));
 
 		// Is the string long enough to ellipsize?
-		if (strlen($str) <= $max_length)
+		if (mb_strlen($str) <= $max_length)
 		{
 			return $str;
 		}
 
-		$beg = substr($str, 0, floor($max_length * $position));
+		$beg = mb_substr($str, 0, floor($max_length * $position));
 		$position = ($position > 1) ? 1 : $position;
 
 		if ($position === 1)
 		{
-			$end = substr($str, 0, -($max_length - strlen($beg)));
+			$end = mb_substr($str, 0, -($max_length - mb_strlen($beg)));
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			$end = substr($str, -($max_length - strlen($beg)));
+			$end = mb_substr($str, -($max_length - mb_strlen($beg)));
 		}
 
 		return $beg.$ellipsis.$end;
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst b/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
index ce84b7f..16c30b7 100644
--- a/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@
    -  :doc:`Inflector Helper <helpers/inflector_helper>` changes include:
 
       - Changed :func:`humanize()` to allow passing an input separator as its second parameter.
-      - Refactored :func:`plural()` and :func:`singular()` to avoid double pluralization and support more words.
+      - Changed :func:`humanize()` and :func:`underscore()` to utilize `mbstring <http://php.net/mbstring>`_, if available.
+      - Changed :func:`plural()` and :func:`singular()` to avoid double pluralization and support more words.
 
    -  :doc:`Download Helper <helpers/download_helper>` changes include:
 
@@ -132,10 +133,14 @@
       - Added *colors* configuration to allow customization for the *background*, *border*, *text* and *grid* colors.
       - Added *filename* to the returned array elements.
 
+   -  :doc:`Text Helper <helpers/text_helper>` changes include:
+
+      - Changed the default tag for use in :func:`highlight_phrase()` to ``<mark>`` (formerly ``<strong>``).
+      - Changed :func:`character_limiter()`, :func:`word_wrap()` and :func:`ellipsize()` to utilize `mbstring <http://php.net/mbstring>`_ or `iconv <http://php.net/iconv>`_, if available.
+
    -  :doc:`Directory Helper <helpers/directory_helper>` :func:`directory_map()` will now append ``DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR`` to directory names in the returned array.
    -  :doc:`Array Helper <helpers/array_helper>` :func:`element()` and :func:`elements()` now return NULL instead of FALSE when the required elements don't exist.
    -  :doc:`Language Helper <helpers/language_helper>` :func:`lang()` now accepts an optional list of additional HTML attributes.
-   -  Changed the default tag for use in :doc:`Text Helper <helpers/text_helper>` :func:`highlight_phrase()` to ``<mark>`` (formerly ``<strong>``).
    -  Deprecated the :doc:`Email Helper <helpers/email_helper>` as its ``valid_email()``, ``send_email()`` functions are now only aliases for PHP native functions ``filter_var()`` and ``mail()`` respectively.
 
 -  Database
@@ -499,7 +504,7 @@
       -  ``UTF8_ENABLED`` now requires only one of `Multibyte String <http://php.net/mbstring>`_ or `iconv <http://php.net/iconv>`_ to be available instead of both.
       -  Changed method ``clean_string()`` to utilize ``mb_convert_encoding()`` if it is available but ``iconv()`` is not.
 
-   -  Added compatibility layers for PHP's `Multibyte string <http://php.net/mbstring>`_ (limited support) and `Password Hashing <http://php.net/password>` extensions.
+   -  Added compatibility layers for PHP's `mbstring <http://php.net/mbstring>`_ (limited support) and `password <http://php.net/password>`_ extensions.
    -  Removed ``CI_CORE`` boolean constant from *CodeIgniter.php* (no longer Reactor and Core versions).
    -  Log Library will now try to create the **log_path** directory if it doesn't exist.
    -  Added support for HTTP-Only cookies with new config option *cookie_httponly* (default FALSE).