diff --git a/src/server.cpp b/src/server.cpp
index b3992b9b1..c32aa5306 100644
--- a/src/server.cpp
+++ b/src/server.cpp
@@ -3031,8 +3031,16 @@ std::wstring Server::handleChat(const std::string &name, const std::wstring &wna
 		line += L"-!- You don't have permission to shout.";
 		broadcast_line = false;
 	} else {
+		/*
+			Workaround for fixing chat on Android. Lua doesn't handle
+			the Cyrillic alphabet and some characters on older Android devices
+		*/
+#ifdef __ANDROID__
+		line += L"<" + wname + L"> " + wmessage;
+#else
 		line += narrow_to_wide(m_script->formatChatMessage(name,
 				wide_to_narrow(wmessage)));
+#endif
 	}
 
 	/*
diff --git a/src/util/string.cpp b/src/util/string.cpp
index e6c52585d..2ee3ec735 100644
--- a/src/util/string.cpp
+++ b/src/util/string.cpp
@@ -209,6 +209,9 @@ wchar_t *narrow_to_wide_c(const char *str)
 }
 
 std::wstring narrow_to_wide(const std::string &mbs) {
+#ifdef __ANDROID__
+	return utf8_to_wide(mbs);
+#else
 	size_t wcl = mbs.size();
 	Buffer<wchar_t> wcs(wcl + 1);
 	size_t len = mbstowcs(*wcs, mbs.c_str(), wcl);
@@ -216,11 +219,15 @@ std::wstring narrow_to_wide(const std::string &mbs) {
 		return L"<invalid multibyte string>";
 	wcs[len] = 0;
 	return *wcs;
+#endif
 }
 
 
 std::string wide_to_narrow(const std::wstring &wcs)
 {
+#ifdef __ANDROID__
+	return wide_to_utf8(wcs);
+#else
 	size_t mbl = wcs.size() * 4;
 	SharedBuffer<char> mbs(mbl+1);
 	size_t len = wcstombs(*mbs, wcs.c_str(), mbl);
@@ -229,6 +236,7 @@ std::string wide_to_narrow(const std::wstring &wcs)
 
 	mbs[len] = 0;
 	return *mbs;
+#endif
 }