diff --git a/lib/po.js b/lib/po.js
index 2bfc3e6..a337063 100644
--- a/lib/po.js
+++ b/lib/po.js
@@ -119,8 +119,32 @@ PO.parse = function (data) {
     function extract(string) {
         string = trim(string);
         string = string.replace(/^[^"]*"|"$/g, '');
-        string = string.replace(/\\"/g, '"');
-        string = string.replace(/\\\\/g, '\\');
+        string = string.replace(/\\([abtnvfr'"\\?]|([0-7]{3})|x([0-9a-fA-F]{2}))/g, function (match, esc, oct, hex) {
+            if (oct) {
+                return String.fromCharCode(parseInt(oct, 8));
+            }
+            if (hex) {
+                return String.fromCharCode(parseInt(hex, 16));
+            }
+            switch (esc) {
+                case 'a':
+                    return '\x07';
+                case 'b':
+                    return '\b';
+                case 't':
+                    return '\t';
+                case 'n':
+                    return '\n';
+                case 'v':
+                    return '\v';
+                case 'f':
+                    return '\f';
+                case 'r':
+                    return '\r';
+                default:
+                    return esc;
+            }
+        });
         return string;
     }