diff --git a/caca/driver/x11.c b/caca/driver/x11.c
index 822d33a..7c690db 100644
--- a/caca/driver/x11.c
+++ b/caca/driver/x11.c
@@ -521,6 +521,9 @@ static int x11_get_event(caca_display_t *dp, caca_privevent_t *ev)
                             dp->drv.p->event_mask, &xevent) == True)
     {
         KeySym keysym;
+#if defined X_HAVE_UTF8_STRING
+        int len;
+#endif
 
         /* Expose event */
         if(xevent.type == Expose)
@@ -602,15 +605,16 @@ static int x11_get_event(caca_display_t *dp, caca_privevent_t *ev)
             continue;
 
 #if defined X_HAVE_UTF8_STRING
-        if(Xutf8LookupString(dp->drv.p->ic, &xevent.xkey, ev->data.key.utf8, 8, NULL, NULL))
+        len = Xutf8LookupString(dp->drv.p->ic, &xevent.xkey,
+                                ev->data.key.utf8, 8, NULL, NULL);
+        ev->data.key.utf8[len] = 0;
+        if (len)
         {
             ev->data.key.utf32 = caca_utf8_to_utf32(ev->data.key.utf8, NULL);
             if(ev->data.key.utf32 <= 0xff)
-            {
                 ev->data.key.ch = ev->data.key.utf32;
-            } else {
+            else
                 ev->data.key.ch = 0;
-            }
             return 1;
         }
 #endif