diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlecode/lanterna/graphics/AbstractTextGraphics.java b/src/main/java/com/googlecode/lanterna/graphics/AbstractTextGraphics.java
index ecf641192..44bdc6a93 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlecode/lanterna/graphics/AbstractTextGraphics.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlecode/lanterna/graphics/AbstractTextGraphics.java
@@ -261,11 +261,14 @@ public TextGraphics drawImage(
     @Override
     public TextGraphics putString(int column, int row, String string) {
         string = prepareStringForPut(column, string);
-        int offset = 0;
-        for(int i = 0; i < string.length(); i++) {
-            char character = string.charAt(i);
-            setCharacter(column + offset, row, newTextCharacter(character));
-            offset += getOffsetToNextCharacter(character);
+        TextCharacter[] textCharacters = TextCharacter.fromString(string, foregroundColor, backgroundColor, activeModifiers);
+        int previousDoubleCharacterCount = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < textCharacters.length; i++) {
+            TextCharacter textCharacter = textCharacters[i];
+            setCharacter(column + i + previousDoubleCharacterCount, row, textCharacter);
+            if (textCharacter.isDoubleWidth()) {
+                previousDoubleCharacterCount++;
+            }
         }
         return this;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlecode/lanterna/terminal/ansi/StreamBasedTerminal.java b/src/main/java/com/googlecode/lanterna/terminal/ansi/StreamBasedTerminal.java
index 050771947..26d7cb820 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlecode/lanterna/terminal/ansi/StreamBasedTerminal.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlecode/lanterna/terminal/ansi/StreamBasedTerminal.java
@@ -100,8 +100,12 @@ public void putCharacter(char c) throws IOException {
      */
     @Override
     public void putString(String string) throws IOException {
-        for (int i = 0; i < string.length(); i++) {
-            putCharacter(string.charAt(i));
+        if (UTF8_REFERENCE == terminalCharset) {
+            writeToTerminal(string.getBytes(terminalCharset));
+        } else {
+            for (int i = 0; i < string.length(); i++) {
+                putCharacter(string.charAt(i));
+            }
         }
     }