diff -ru typo3_src_trunk.orig/typo3/sysext/cms/tslib/class.tslib_content.php typo3_src_trunk.new/typo3/sysext/cms/tslib/class.tslib_content.php
--- typo3_src_trunk.orig/typo3/sysext/cms/tslib/class.tslib_content.php	2011-01-31 08:12:43.000000000 +0300
+++ typo3_src_trunk.new/typo3/sysext/cms/tslib/class.tslib_content.php	2011-01-31 21:50:44.000000000 +0300
@@ -3593,15 +3593,20 @@
 		$afterstring = trim($options[1]);
 		$crop2space = trim($options[2]);
 		if ($chars) {
-			if (strlen($content) > abs($chars)) {
+			if ($GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->strlen($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset, $content) > abs($chars)) {
+				$trunc_at = FALSE;
 				if ($chars < 0) {
 					$content = $GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->substr($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset, $content, $chars);
-					$trunc_at = strpos($content, ' ');
-					$content = ($trunc_at && $crop2space) ? $afterstring . substr($content, $trunc_at) : $afterstring . $content;
+					if ($crop2space) {
+						$trunc_at = strpos($content, ' ');
+					}
+					$content = ($trunc_at) ? $afterstring . substr($content, $trunc_at) : $afterstring . $content;
 				} else {
 					$content = $GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->substr($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset, $content, 0, $chars);
-					$trunc_at = strrpos($content, ' ');
-					$content = ($trunc_at && $crop2space) ? substr($content, 0, $trunc_at) . $afterstring : $content . $afterstring;
+					if ($crop2space) {
+						$trunc_at = strrpos($content, ' ');
+					}
+					$content = ($trunc_at) ? substr($content, 0, $trunc_at) . $afterstring : $content . $afterstring;
 				}
 			}
 		}