Index: src/core-utils/gnc-glib-utils.c
===================================================================
--- src/core-utils/gnc-glib-utils.c	(revision 17061)
+++ src/core-utils/gnc-glib-utils.c	(working copy)
@@ -229,6 +229,20 @@
   return result;
 }
 
+gchar *
+gnc_locale_from_utf8(const gchar* str)
+{
+  gchar *   locale_str;
+  gsize     bytes_written = 0;
+  GError *  err = NULL;
+
+  locale_str = g_locale_from_utf8(str, -1, NULL, &bytes_written, &err);
+  if (err)
+    g_warning("g_locale_from_utf8 failed: %s", err->message);
+
+  return locale_str;
+}
+
 GList*
 gnc_g_list_map(GList* list, GncGMapFunc fn, gpointer user_data)
 {
Index: src/core-utils/gnc-glib-utils.h
===================================================================
--- src/core-utils/gnc-glib-utils.h	(revision 17061)
+++ src/core-utils/gnc-glib-utils.h	(working copy)
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@
  * @return A newly allocated string that has to be g_free'd by the
  * caller. */
 gchar *gnc_utf8_strip_invalid_strdup (const gchar* str);
+gchar *gnc_locale_from_utf8(const gchar* str);
 
 typedef gpointer (*GncGMapFunc)(gpointer data, gpointer user_data);
 
Index: src/core-utils/core-utils.scm
===================================================================
--- src/core-utils/core-utils.scm	(revision 17061)
+++ src/core-utils/core-utils.scm	(working copy)
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 (re-export gnc-is-debugging)
 (re-export g-find-program-in-path)
 (re-export gnc-utf8-strip-invalid-strdup)
+(re-export gnc-locale-from-utf8)
 (re-export gnc-scm-log-warn)
 (re-export gnc-scm-log-error)
 (re-export gnc-scm-log-msg)
Index: src/core-utils/core-utils.i
===================================================================
--- src/core-utils/core-utils.i	(revision 17061)
+++ src/core-utils/core-utils.i	(working copy)
@@ -21,3 +21,5 @@
 
 %newobject gnc_utf8_strip_invalid_strdup;
 gchar * gnc_utf8_strip_invalid_strdup(const gchar *);
+%newobject gnc_locale_from_utf8;
+gchar * gnc_locale_from_utf8(const gchar *);