diff --git a/tests/test_nearley/grammars/unicode.ne b/tests/test_nearley/grammars/unicode.ne
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fd5158
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_nearley/grammars/unicode.ne
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+main -> "±a"
diff --git a/tests/test_nearley/test_nearley.py b/tests/test_nearley/test_nearley.py
index 0fbe239..450f7b9 100644
--- a/tests/test_nearley/test_nearley.py
+++ b/tests/test_nearley/test_nearley.py
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import unittest
 import logging
 import os
+import codecs
 
 logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
 
 from lark.tools.nearley import create_code_for_nearley_grammar
 
-NEARLEY_PATH = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'nearley'))
+TEST_PATH    = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+NEARLEY_PATH = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(TEST_PATH, 'nearley'))
 BUILTIN_PATH = os.path.join(NEARLEY_PATH, 'builtin')
 
 class TestNearley(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -59,6 +62,26 @@ class TestNearley(unittest.TestCase):
         parse('b')
         parse('c')
 
+    def test_utf8(self):
+        grammar = u'main -> "±a"'
+        code = create_code_for_nearley_grammar(grammar, 'main', BUILTIN_PATH, './')
+        d = {}
+        exec (code, d)
+        parse = d['parse']
+
+        parse(u'±a')
+
+    def test_utf8_2(self):
+        fn = os.path.join(TEST_PATH, 'grammars/unicode.ne')
+        with codecs.open(fn, encoding='utf8') as f:
+            grammar = f.read()
+        code = create_code_for_nearley_grammar(grammar, 'main', BUILTIN_PATH, './')
+        d = {}
+        exec (code, d)
+        parse = d['parse']
+
+        parse(u'±a')
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()