diff --git a/dic/compdic.cpp b/dic/compdic.cpp
index d8233c2..f2bb73a 100644
--- a/dic/compdic.cpp
+++ b/dic/compdic.cpp
@@ -158,8 +158,7 @@ void CompDic::loadWordList(const string &iFileName, vector<wstring> &oWordList)
         // Ignore empty lines
         if (line == "")
             continue;
-        oWordList.push_back(readFromUTF8(line.data(),
-                                        line.size(), "loadWordList"));
+        oWordList.push_back(readFromUTF8(line, "loadWordList"));
     }
 
     // Sort the word list, to perform a better compression
diff --git a/dic/compdicmain.cpp b/dic/compdicmain.cpp
index 696c2a5..991b300 100644
--- a/dic/compdicmain.cpp
+++ b/dic/compdicmain.cpp
@@ -80,8 +80,7 @@ void readLetters(const string &iFileName, CompDic &ioBuilder)
         }
 
         // Convert the line to a wstring
-        const wstring &wline =
-            readFromUTF8(line.c_str(), line.size(), "readLetters (1)");
+        const wstring &wline = readFromUTF8(line, "readLetters (1)");
         // Split the lines on space characters
         boost::char_separator<wchar_t> sep(L" ");
         Tokenizer tok(wline, sep);
diff --git a/dic/encoding.cpp b/dic/encoding.cpp
index ba8fecd..8ad04f5 100644
--- a/dic/encoding.cpp
+++ b/dic/encoding.cpp
@@ -312,16 +312,16 @@ unsigned int readFromUTF8(wchar_t *oString, unsigned int iWideSize,
 }
 
 
-wstring readFromUTF8(const char *iBuffer, unsigned int iBufSize,
-                     const string &iContext)
+wstring readFromUTF8(const string &iString, const string &iContext)
 {
+    const int size = iString.size();
     // Temporary buffer for output
     // We will have at most as many characters as in the UTF-8 string
-    wchar_t *wideBuf = new wchar_t[iBufSize];
+    wchar_t *wideBuf = new wchar_t[size];
     unsigned int number;
     try
     {
-        number = readFromUTF8(wideBuf, iBufSize, iBuffer, iBufSize, iContext);
+        number = readFromUTF8(wideBuf, size, iString.data(), size, iContext);
     }
     catch (...)
     {
diff --git a/dic/encoding.h b/dic/encoding.h
index 50806cb..2b872cb 100644
--- a/dic/encoding.h
+++ b/dic/encoding.h
@@ -101,13 +101,11 @@ unsigned int readFromUTF8(wchar_t *oString, unsigned int iWideSize,
  * Same as the other readFromUTF8 function, dealing with a wstring
  * instead of a wchar_t*. Note that it performs an additional copy
  * of the output string...
- * @param iBuffer: UTF-8 string to convert
- * @param iBufSize: available size in iBuffer
+ * @param iString: UTF-8 string to convert
  * @param iContext: free text used in case of exception
  * @return: the converted wide string
  */
-wstring readFromUTF8(const char *iBuffer, unsigned int iBufSize,
-                     const string &iContext);
+wstring readFromUTF8(const string &iString, const string &iContext);
 
 /**
  * Utility function to convert a wstring into an UTF-8 char* buffer
diff --git a/dic/header.cpp b/dic/header.cpp
index 45752ca..9c7fdeb 100644
--- a/dic/header.cpp
+++ b/dic/header.cpp
@@ -406,15 +406,18 @@ void Header::read(istream &iStream)
     else
         throw DicException("Header::read: unrecognized algorithm type");
 
-    m_userHost = readFromUTF8(aHeaderExt.userHost, aHeaderExt.userHostSize,
+    m_userHost = readFromUTF8(string(aHeaderExt.userHost,
+                                     aHeaderExt.userHostSize),
                               "user and host information");
 
     // Convert the dictionary letters from UTF-8 to wchar_t*
-    m_dicName = readFromUTF8(aHeaderExt.dicName, aHeaderExt.dicNameSize,
+    m_dicName = readFromUTF8(string(aHeaderExt.dicName,
+                                    aHeaderExt.dicNameSize),
                              "dictionary name");
 
     // Convert the dictionary letters from UTF-8 to wchar_t*
-    m_letters = readFromUTF8(aHeaderExt.letters, aHeaderExt.lettersSize,
+    m_letters = readFromUTF8(string(aHeaderExt.letters,
+                                    aHeaderExt.lettersSize),
                              "dictionary letters");
     // Safety check: correct number of letters?
     if (m_letters.size() != aHeaderExt.nbLetters)
@@ -449,8 +452,8 @@ void Header::read(istream &iStream)
         aHeaderExt2.displayAndInputSize = ntohs(aHeaderExt2.displayAndInputSize);
 
         // Convert the dictionary letters from UTF-8 to wchar_t*
-        wstring serialized = readFromUTF8(aHeaderExt2.displayAndInput,
-                                          aHeaderExt2.displayAndInputSize,
+        wstring serialized = readFromUTF8(string(aHeaderExt2.displayAndInput,
+                                                 aHeaderExt2.displayAndInputSize),
                                           "display and input data");
         // Parse this string and structure the data
         readDisplayAndInput(serialized);
diff --git a/game/xml_reader.cpp b/game/xml_reader.cpp
index 5fdc66b..aaf6bab 100644
--- a/game/xml_reader.cpp
+++ b/game/xml_reader.cpp
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ Game * XmlReader::read(const string &iFileName, const Dictionary &iDic)
 
 static wstring fromUtf8(const string &str)
 {
-    return readFromUTF8(str.c_str(), str.size(), "Loading game");
+    return readFromUTF8(str, "Loading game");
 }