diff --git a/Modules/_localemodule.c b/Modules/_localemodule.c
index 7c816ff..f9c48e1 100644
--- a/Modules/_localemodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_localemodule.c
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@
        involved herein */
 
 #define RESULT_STRING(s)\
-    x = PyUnicode_FromString(l->s);\
+    x = PyUnicode_DecodeUnicodeEscape(l->s, strlen(l->s), "strict");\
     if (!x) goto failed;\
     PyDict_SetItemString(result, #s, x);\
     Py_XDECREF(x)
@@ -471,8 +471,10 @@
             /* Check NULL as a workaround for GNU libc's returning NULL
                instead of an empty string for nl_langinfo(ERA).  */
             const char *result = nl_langinfo(item);
+            result = result != NULL ? result : "";
             /* XXX may have to convert this to wcs first. */
-            return PyUnicode_FromString(result != NULL ? result : "");
+            return PyUnicode_DecodeUnicodeEscape(result, strlen(result),
+                                                 "strict");
         }
     PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "unsupported langinfo constant");
     return NULL;
diff --git a/Modules/pwdmodule.c b/Modules/pwdmodule.c
index ea8c19c..57f69e7 100644
--- a/Modules/pwdmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/pwdmodule.c
@@ -48,8 +48,11 @@
 static void
 sets(PyObject *v, int i, const char* val)
 {
-  if (val)
-	  PyStructSequence_SET_ITEM(v, i, PyUnicode_FromString(val));
+  if (val) {
+	  PyObject *o =
+		PyUnicode_DecodeUnicodeEscape(val, strlen(val), "strict");
+	  PyStructSequence_SET_ITEM(v, i, o);
+  }
   else {
 	  PyStructSequence_SET_ITEM(v, i, Py_None);
 	  Py_INCREF(Py_None);