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/fixtures/c-strings.po b/test/fixtures/c-strings.po
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..597951e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/c-strings.po
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# French translation of Link (6.x-2.9)
+# Copyright (c) 2011 by the French translation team
+msgid ""
+msgstr ""
+"Project-Id-Version: Link (6.x-2.9)\n"
+"Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n"
+"POT-Creation-Date: 2011-12-31 23:39+0000\n"
+"PO-Revision-Date: 2013-12-17 14:59+0100\n"
+"Last-Translator: Ruben Vermeersch <ruben@rocketeer.be>\n"
+"Language: fr\n"
+"Language-Team: French\n"
+"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
+"Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"
+"Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=(n > 1);\n"
+"MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
+"X-Generator: Poedit 1.6.2\n"
+
+msgid "The name field must not contain characters like \" or \\"
+msgstr ""
diff --git a/test/parse.js b/test/parse.js
index e252b08..4547775 100644
--- a/test/parse.js
+++ b/test/parse.js
@@ -84,4 +84,21 @@ describe('Parse', function () {
         assert.equal(ambiguousItems[0].msgctxt, 'folder display');
         assert.equal(ambiguousItems[1].msgctxt, 'folder action');
     });
+
+    describe('C-Strings', function () {
+        it('should parse the c-strings.po file', function () {
+            var po = PO.parse(fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/fixtures/c-strings.po', 'utf8'));
+
+            assert.notEqual(po, null);
+        });
+
+        it('should extract strings containing " and \\ characters', function () {
+            var po = PO.parse(fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/fixtures/c-strings.po', 'utf8'));
+
+            var items = po.items.filter(function (item) {
+                return (/^The name field must not contain/).test(item.msgid);
+            });
+            assert.equal(items[0].msgid, 'The name field must not contain characters like " or \\');
+        });
+    });
 });
diff --git a/test/write.js b/test/write.js
index a1ccd11..2f33f3d 100644
--- a/test/write.js
+++ b/test/write.js
@@ -52,6 +52,30 @@ 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"');
+        });
+
+        it('should write identical file after parsing a file', function () {
+            var input = fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/fixtures/c-strings.po', 'utf8');
+            var po = PO.parse(input);
+            var str = po.toString();
+
+            assert.equal(str, input);
+        });
+    });
+
     describe('msgctxt', function () {
         it('should write context field to file', function () {
             var input = fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/fixtures/big.po', 'utf8');