diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/couchbase/core/convert/translation/JacksonTranslationService.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/couchbase/core/convert/translation/JacksonTranslationService.java
index e8af3328..a7e8db9d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/couchbase/core/convert/translation/JacksonTranslationService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/couchbase/core/convert/translation/JacksonTranslationService.java
@@ -24,9 +24,7 @@ import org.springframework.data.couchbase.core.mapping.CouchbaseStorable;
 import org.springframework.data.mapping.model.MappingException;
 import org.springframework.data.mapping.model.SimpleTypeHolder;
 
-import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.io.*;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
@@ -55,17 +53,18 @@ public class JacksonTranslationService implements TranslationService {
    */
   @Override
   public final Object encode(final CouchbaseStorable source) {
-    OutputStream stream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+    Writer writer = new StringWriter();
 
     try {
-      JsonGenerator generator = factory.createGenerator(stream, JsonEncoding.UTF8);
+      JsonGenerator generator = factory.createGenerator(writer);
       encodeRecursive(source, generator);
       generator.close();
+      writer.close();
     } catch (IOException ex) {
       throw new RuntimeException("Could not encode JSON", ex);
     }
 
-    return stream.toString();
+    return writer.toString();
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/couchbase/core/convert/translation/JacksonTranslationServiceTests.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/couchbase/core/convert/translation/JacksonTranslationServiceTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f52d51b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/couchbase/core/convert/translation/JacksonTranslationServiceTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2013 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.data.couchbase.core.convert.translation;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.springframework.data.couchbase.core.mapping.CouchbaseDocument;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+/**
+ * Verifies the functionality of a {@link JacksonTranslationService}.
+ *
+ * @author Michael Nitschinger
+ */
+public class JacksonTranslationServiceTests {
+
+    private TranslationService service;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setup() {
+        service = new JacksonTranslationService();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldEncodeNonASCII() {
+        CouchbaseDocument doc = new CouchbaseDocument("key");
+        doc.put("language", "русский");
+        String expected = "{\"language\":\"русский\"}";
+        assertEquals(expected,  service.encode(doc));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldDecodeNonASCII() {
+        String source = "{\"language\":\"русский\"}";
+        CouchbaseDocument target = new CouchbaseDocument();
+        service.decode(source, target);
+        assertEquals("русский", target.get("language"));
+    }
+}