--- src/help.c
+++ src/help.c
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@
 #ifndef HAVE_SLANG
 			addch (acs_map [c]);
 #else
-#ifdef UTF8
+#if defined(UTF8) && SLANG_VERSION < 20000
 			SLsmg_draw_object (h->y + line + 2, h->x + col + 2, acs_map [c]);
 #else
 			SLsmg_draw_object (h->y + line + 2, h->x + col + 2, c);
--- src/myslang.h
+++ src/myslang.h
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@
 #endif	/* HAVE_SLANG_SLANG_H */
 #endif
 
+#if SLANG_VERSION >= 20000
+#define UTF8 1
+#define SLsmg_Is_Unicode SLsmg_is_utf8_mode()
+void SLsmg_write_nwchars(wchar_t *s, size_t n);
+#endif
+
 #ifdef UTF8
 #    include <wchar.h>
 #endif
--- src/slint.c
+++ src/slint.c
@@ -181,6 +181,10 @@
     
     SLtt_get_terminfo ();
 
+#if SLANG_VERSION >= 20000
+    SLutf8_enable (-1);
+#endif
+
    /*
     * If the terminal in not in terminfo but begins with a well-known
     * string such as "linux" or "xterm" S-Lang will go on, but the
--- src/util.c
+++ src/util.c
@@ -55,6 +55,32 @@
 static const char app_text [] = "Midnight-Commander";
 int easy_patterns = 1;
 
+#if SLANG_VERSION >= 20000
+void SLsmg_write_nwchars(wchar_t *s, size_t n)
+{
+    if (SLsmg_is_utf8_mode()) { /* slang can handle it directly */
+	while(n-- && *s)
+	    SLsmg_write_char(*s++);
+    }
+    else { /* convert wchars back to 8bit encoding */
+        mbstate_t mbs;
+	memset (&mbs, 0, sizeof (mbs));
+	while (n-- && *s) {
+	    char buf[MB_LEN_MAX + 1]; /* should use 1 char, but to be sure */
+	    if (*s < 0x80) {
+		SLsmg_write_char(*s++); /* ASCII */
+	    }
+	    else {
+		if (wcrtomb(buf, *s++, &mbs) == 1)
+		    SLsmg_write_char((wchar_t)(buf[0]));
+		else
+		    SLsmg_write_char('?'); /* should not happen */
+	    }
+	} 
+    }
+}
+#endif
+
 extern void str_replace(char *s, char from, char to)
 {
     for (; *s != '\0'; s++) {