diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index d454d25f806..cc840437dec 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -26,9 +26,11 @@ matrix:
           packages:
             - libwww-perl
             - clang-3.7
+            - libc++-dev
+	    - libstdc++-5-dev
       before_install:
         - sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/clang-3.7 90
-      env: COMPILER=clang++-3.7
+      env: COMPILER="clang++-3.7 -stdlib=libstdc++"
     - os: osx
       compiler: gcc
       env: COMPILER=g++
@@ -40,5 +42,5 @@ matrix:
 
 script:
   - make -C src minisat2-download
-  - make -C src CXX=$COMPILER CXXFLAGS="-Wall -O2 -g -Werror -Wno-deprecated-register -pedantic -Wno-sign-compare" -j2 && make -C regression test
-  - make -C src CXX=$COMPILER CXXFLAGS="-Wall -O2 -g -Werror -Wno-deprecated-register -pedantic -Wno-sign-compare" -j2 aa-symex.dir cegis.dir clobber.dir memory-models.dir musketeer.dir
+  - make -C src CXX="$COMPILER" CXXFLAGS="-Wall -O2 -g -Werror -Wno-deprecated-register -pedantic -Wno-sign-compare" -j2 && make -C regression test
+  - make -C src CXX="$COMPILER" CXXFLAGS="-Wall -O2 -g -Werror -Wno-deprecated-register -pedantic -Wno-sign-compare" -j2 aa-symex.dir cegis.dir clobber.dir memory-models.dir musketeer.dir
diff --git a/src/util/unicode.cpp b/src/util/unicode.cpp
index 4502605c600..12ea8d04a0f 100644
--- a/src/util/unicode.cpp
+++ b/src/util/unicode.cpp
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ Author: Daniel Kroening, kroening@kroening.com
 \*******************************************************************/
 
 #include <cstring>
+#include <locale>
+#include <codecvt>
 
 #include "unicode.h"
 
@@ -253,3 +255,41 @@ const char **narrow_argv(int argc, const wchar_t **argv_wide)
 
   return argv_narrow;
 }
+
+std::wstring utf8_to_utf16_big_endian(const std::string& in)
+{
+  std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8_utf16<wchar_t> > converter;
+  return converter.from_bytes(in);
+}
+
+std::wstring utf8_to_utf16_little_endian(const std::string& in)
+{
+  const std::codecvt_mode mode=std::codecvt_mode::little_endian;
+
+  // default largest value codecvt_utf8_utf16 reads without error is 0x10ffff
+  // see: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/locale/codecvt_utf8_utf16
+  const unsigned long maxcode=0x10ffff;
+
+  typedef std::codecvt_utf8_utf16<wchar_t, maxcode, mode> codecvt_utf8_utf16t;
+  std::wstring_convert<codecvt_utf8_utf16t> converter;
+  return converter.from_bytes(in);
+}
+
+std::string utf16_little_endian_to_ascii(const std::wstring& in)
+{
+  std::string result;
+  std::locale loc;
+  for(const auto c : in)
+  {
+    if(c<=255 && isprint(c, loc))
+      result+=(unsigned char)c;
+    else
+    {
+      result+="\\u";
+      char hex[5];
+      snprintf(hex, sizeof(hex), "%04x", (wchar_t)c);
+      result+=hex;
+    }
+  }
+  return result;
+}
diff --git a/src/util/unicode.h b/src/util/unicode.h
index edad95039f0..1e5040344d0 100644
--- a/src/util/unicode.h
+++ b/src/util/unicode.h
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ std::wstring widen(const std::string &s);
 std::string utf32_to_utf8(const std::basic_string<unsigned int> &s);
 std::string utf16_to_utf8(const std::basic_string<unsigned short int> &s);
 
+std::wstring utf8_to_utf16_big_endian(const std::string&);
+std::wstring utf8_to_utf16_little_endian(const std::string&);
+std::string utf16_little_endian_to_ascii(const std::wstring& in);
+
 const char **narrow_argv(int argc, const wchar_t **argv_wide);
 
 #endif // CPROVER_UTIL_UNICODE_H