Multi-byte characters as hash references?

[roberto0]

Hello, I've been using the module, Spreadsheet:arseExcel, and I
believe it's not reading multi-byte characters correctly. I believe
the problem is that Spreadsheet:arseExcel is only recording the final
2 bytes of the 4-byte characters, and I cannot differntiate between
scripts (I'm parsing multi-lingual data, and I can't rely on a
particular script).

Has anyone encountered this problem before, and is there a relatively
straightforward solution?

thanks in advance,
Rob Anderson