diff --git a/src/source_base.cpp b/src/source_base.cpp
index 1515f7f..0111acc 100644
--- a/src/source_base.cpp
+++ b/src/source_base.cpp
@@ -1151,7 +1151,8 @@ void Source::BaseView::insert_snippet(Gtk::TextIter iter, const std::string &sni
             if(snippet.at(i) != '}')
               throw std::logic_error("closing } not found");
             ++i;
-            arguments_offsets[number].emplace_back(insert.size(), insert.size() + placeholder.size());
+            auto insert_character_count = utf8_character_count(insert);
+            arguments_offsets[number].emplace_back(insert_character_count, insert_character_count + utf8_character_count(placeholder));
             insert += placeholder;
           }
           else {
@@ -1170,8 +1171,10 @@ void Source::BaseView::insert_snippet(Gtk::TextIter iter, const std::string &sni
             ++i;
           }
         }
-        else if(parse_number())
-          arguments_offsets[number].emplace_back(insert.size(), insert.size());
+        else if(parse_number()) {
+          auto insert_character_count = utf8_character_count(insert);
+          arguments_offsets[number].emplace_back(insert_character_count, insert_character_count);
+        }
         else
           parse_variable();
       }
diff --git a/src/utility.cpp b/src/utility.cpp
index 8e1c894..1dc4bdd 100644
--- a/src/utility.cpp
+++ b/src/utility.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,15 @@ ScopeGuard::~ScopeGuard() {
     on_exit();
 }
 
+size_t utf8_character_count(const std::string &text) noexcept {
+  size_t count = 0;
+  for(auto chr : text) {
+    if(static_cast<unsigned char>(chr) <= 0b01111111 || static_cast<unsigned char>(chr) >= 0b11000000)
+      ++count;
+  }
+  return count;
+}
+
 bool starts_with(const char *str, const std::string &test) noexcept {
   for(size_t i = 0; i < test.size(); ++i) {
     if(*str == '\0')
diff --git a/src/utility.hpp b/src/utility.hpp
index e143b8d..9d5a723 100644
--- a/src/utility.hpp
+++ b/src/utility.hpp
@@ -8,11 +8,16 @@ public:
   ~ScopeGuard();
 };
 
+/// Returns number of utf8 characters in text argument
+size_t utf8_character_count(const std::string &text) noexcept;
+
 bool starts_with(const char *str, const std::string &test) noexcept;
 bool starts_with(const char *str, const char *test) noexcept;
 bool starts_with(const std::string &str, const std::string &test) noexcept;
 bool starts_with(const std::string &str, const char *test) noexcept;
+/// Comparison starts from position pos in str
 bool starts_with(const std::string &str, size_t pos, const std::string &test) noexcept;
+/// Comparison starts from position pos in str
 bool starts_with(const std::string &str, size_t pos, const char *test) noexcept;
 
 bool ends_with(const std::string &str, const std::string &test) noexcept;
diff --git a/tests/utility_test.cpp b/tests/utility_test.cpp
index ae0e319..b778612 100644
--- a/tests/utility_test.cpp
+++ b/tests/utility_test.cpp
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ int main() {
   }
   g_assert(scope_exit);
 
+  g_assert(utf8_character_count("") == 0);
+  g_assert(utf8_character_count("test") == 4);
+  g_assert(utf8_character_count("æøå") == 3);
+  g_assert(utf8_character_count("æøåtest") == 7);
+
   std::string empty;
   std::string test("test");
   std::string testtest("testtest");