diff --git a/lib/po.js b/lib/po.js
index 82d13f1..0d7a82f 100644
--- a/lib/po.js
+++ b/lib/po.js
@@ -181,6 +181,12 @@ PO.Item.prototype.toString = function () {
     var lines = [],
         that = this;
 
+    // reverse what extract(string) method during PO.parse does
+    var _escape = function (string) {
+        string = string.replace(/\\/g, '\\\\');
+        return string.replace(/"/g, '\\"');
+    };
+
     var _process = function (keyword, text, i) {
         var lines = [],
             parts = text.split(/\n/),
@@ -188,11 +194,11 @@ PO.Item.prototype.toString = function () {
         if (parts.length > 1) {
             lines.push(keyword + index + ' ""');
             parts.forEach(function (part) {
-                lines.push('"' + part + '"');
+                lines.push('"' + _escape(part) + '"');
             });
         }
         else {
-            lines.push(keyword + index + ' "' + text + '"');
+            lines.push(keyword + index + ' "' + _escape(text) + '"');
         }
         return lines;
     };
diff --git a/test/write.js b/test/write.js
index a1ccd11..b0e3fee 100644
--- a/test/write.js
+++ b/test/write.js
@@ -52,6 +52,22 @@ describe('Write', function () {
         assertHasLine(str, '#. Extracted comment');
     });
 
+    describe('C-Strings', function () {
+        it('should escape "', function () {
+            var item = new PO.Item();
+
+            item.msgid = '" should be written escaped';
+            assertHasLine(item.toString(), 'msgid "\\" should be written escaped"');
+        });
+
+        it('shoudl escape \\', function () {
+            var item = new PO.Item();
+
+            item.msgid = '\\ should be written escaped';
+            assertHasLine(item.toString(), 'msgid "\\\\ should be written escaped"');
+        });
+    });
+
     describe('msgctxt', function () {
         it('should write context field to file', function () {
             var input = fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/fixtures/big.po', 'utf8');