diff --git a/libguile/symbols.c b/libguile/symbols.c
index c77749f11..9a59b6a8e 100644
--- a/libguile/symbols.c
+++ b/libguile/symbols.c
@@ -443,6 +443,32 @@ scm_take_locale_symbol (char *sym)
   return scm_take_locale_symboln (sym, (size_t)-1);
 }
 
+SCM
+scm_from_latin1_symbol (const char *sym)
+{
+  return scm_from_latin1_symboln (sym, -1);
+}
+
+SCM
+scm_from_latin1_symboln (const char *sym, size_t len)
+{
+  SCM str = scm_from_latin1_stringn (sym, len);
+  return scm_i_str2symbol (str);
+}
+
+SCM
+scm_from_utf8_symbol (const char *sym)
+{
+  return scm_from_utf8_symboln (sym, -1);
+}
+
+SCM
+scm_from_utf8_symboln (const char *sym, size_t len)
+{
+  SCM str = scm_from_utf8_stringn (sym, len);
+  return scm_i_str2symbol (str);
+}
+
 void
 scm_symbols_prehistory ()
 {
diff --git a/libguile/symbols.h b/libguile/symbols.h
index 8f96d65e5..6106f9ef1 100644
--- a/libguile/symbols.h
+++ b/libguile/symbols.h
@@ -67,11 +67,27 @@ SCM_API SCM scm_symbol_pset_x (SCM s, SCM val);
 SCM_API SCM scm_symbol_hash (SCM s);
 SCM_API SCM scm_gensym (SCM prefix);
 
+/* Use locale encoding for user input, user output, or interacting with
+   the C library.  Use latin-1 for ASCII, and for literals in source
+   code.  Use UTF-8 for interaction with modern libraries which deal in
+   UTF-8.  Otherwise use scm_to_stringn or scm_from_stringn, and
+   convert.  */
+
 SCM_API SCM scm_from_locale_symbol (const char *str);
 SCM_API SCM scm_from_locale_symboln (const char *str, size_t len);
 SCM_API SCM scm_take_locale_symbol (char *sym);
 SCM_API SCM scm_take_locale_symboln (char *sym, size_t len);
 
+SCM_API SCM scm_from_latin1_symbol (const char *str);
+SCM_API SCM scm_from_latin1_symboln (const char *str, size_t len);
+SCM_API SCM scm_take_latin1_symbol (char *sym);
+SCM_API SCM scm_take_latin1_symboln (char *sym, size_t len);
+
+SCM_API SCM scm_from_utf8_symbol (const char *str);
+SCM_API SCM scm_from_utf8_symboln (const char *str, size_t len);
+SCM_API SCM scm_take_utf8_symbol (char *sym);
+SCM_API SCM scm_take_utf8_symboln (char *sym, size_t len);
+
 /* internal functions. */
 
 SCM_INTERNAL unsigned long scm_i_hash_symbol (SCM obj, unsigned long n,