diff --git a/pyavrophonetic/config.py b/pyavrophonetic/config.py
index 706e28a..8edf161 100755
--- a/pyavrophonetic/config.py
+++ b/pyavrophonetic/config.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 # Imports
 import os
 import simplejson as json
+import codecs
 
 
 # Constants
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@
 AVRO_DICT_FILE = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(BASE_PATH,
                                               "resources/avrodict.json"))
 # -- Loads json data from avrodict.json
-AVRO_DICT = json.load(open(AVRO_DICT_FILE))
+AVRO_DICT = json.load(codecs.open(AVRO_DICT_FILE, encoding='utf-8'))
 # -- Shortcut to vowels
 AVRO_VOWELS = set(AVRO_DICT['data']['vowel'])
 # -- Shortcut to consonants