diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7579f743
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+vendor
+composer.lock
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 23510f6a..3351e997 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 language: php
-php: 5.3
 before_script:
   - composer install --dev
+php:
+  - 5.3
+  - 5.4
 script: phpunit
diff --git a/src/Faker/Generator.php b/src/Faker/Generator.php
index 1097683f..3401089d 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Generator.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Generator.php
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class Generator
      */
     public function parse($string)
     {
-        return preg_replace_callback('/\{\{\s?(\w+)\s?\}\}/', array($this, 'callFormatWithMatches'), $string);
+        return preg_replace_callback('/\{\{\s?(\w+)\s?\}\}/u', array($this, 'callFormatWithMatches'), $string);
     }
 
     protected function callFormatWithMatches($matches)
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php b/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
index 16b74993..a8fd712b 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
@@ -136,8 +136,8 @@ class Base
      */
     public static function numerify($string = '###')
     {
-        $string = preg_replace_callback('/\#/', 'static::randomDigit', $string);
-        $string = preg_replace_callback('/\%/', 'static::randomDigitNotNull', $string);
+        $string = preg_replace_callback('/\#/u', 'static::randomDigit', $string);
+        $string = preg_replace_callback('/\%/u', 'static::randomDigitNotNull', $string);
 
         return $string;
     }
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ class Base
      */
     public static function lexify($string = '????')
     {
-        return preg_replace_callback('/\?/', 'static::randomLetter', $string);
+        return preg_replace_callback('/\?/u', 'static::randomLetter', $string);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/Internet.php b/src/Faker/Provider/Internet.php
index 227a24ca..0ba80f90 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/Internet.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/Internet.php
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Base
     {
         $format = static::randomElement(static::$emailFormats);
 
-        return preg_replace('/\s/', '', $this->generator->parse($format));
+        return preg_replace('/\s/u', '', $this->generator->parse($format));
     }
 
     /**
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Base
      */
     public final function safeEmail()
     {
-        return preg_replace('/\s/', '', $this->userName() . '@' . static::safeEmailDomain());
+        return preg_replace('/\s/u', '', $this->userName() . '@' . static::safeEmailDomain());
     }
 
     /**
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Base
      */
     public function freeEmail()
     {
-        return preg_replace('/\s/', '', $this->userName() . '@' . static::freeEmailDomain());
+        return preg_replace('/\s/u', '', $this->userName() . '@' . static::freeEmailDomain());
     }
 
     /**
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Base
      */
     public function companyEmail()
     {
-        return preg_replace('/\s/', '', $this->userName() . '@' . $this->domainName());
+        return preg_replace('/\s/u', '', $this->userName() . '@' . $this->domainName());
     }
 
     /**
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Base
         $company = $this->generator->format('company');
         $companyElements = explode(' ', $company);
         $company = $companyElements[0];
-        $company = preg_replace('/\W/', '', $company);
+        $company = preg_replace('/\W/u', '', $company);
 
         return static::toLower($company);
     }
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/bg_BG/Internet.php b/src/Faker/Provider/bg_BG/Internet.php
index 4c43a31f..04f8fba3 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/bg_BG/Internet.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/bg_BG/Internet.php
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Internet
         $company = $this->generator->format('company');
         $companyElements = explode(' ', $company);
         $company = $companyElements[0];
-        $company = preg_replace('/\W/', '', $company);
+        $company = preg_replace('/\W/u', '', $company);
 
         return $company;
     }
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/da_DK/Internet.php b/src/Faker/Provider/da_DK/Internet.php
index 093320eb..2d1e9307 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/da_DK/Internet.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/da_DK/Internet.php
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Internet
         $company = $this->generator->format('company');
         $companyElements = explode(' ', $company);
         $company = $companyElements[0];
-        $company = preg_replace('/\W/', '', $company);
+        $company = preg_replace('/\W/u', '', $company);
 
         return static::toLower(static::toAscii($company));
     }
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/de_DE/Internet.php b/src/Faker/Provider/de_DE/Internet.php
index dec56605..52c420af 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/de_DE/Internet.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/de_DE/Internet.php
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Internet
         $company = $this->generator->format('company');
         $companyElements = explode(' ', $company);
         $company = $companyElements[0];
-        $company = preg_replace('/\W/', '', $company);
+        $company = preg_replace('/\W/u', '', $company);
 
         return static::toLower(static::toAscii($company));
     }
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/en_CA/Address.php b/src/Faker/Provider/en_CA/Address.php
index 97816441..3dbb8487 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/en_CA/Address.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/en_CA/Address.php
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ class Address extends \Faker\Provider\en_US\Address
     {
         $string = static::randomElement(static::$postcode);
 
-        $string = preg_replace_callback('/\#/', 'static::randomDigit', $string);
-        $string = preg_replace_callback('/\?/', 'static::randomPostcodeLetter', $string);
+        $string = preg_replace_callback('/\#/u', 'static::randomDigit', $string);
+        $string = preg_replace_callback('/\?/u', 'static::randomPostcodeLetter', $string);
 
         return static::toUpper($string);
     }
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/fr_FR/Internet.php b/src/Faker/Provider/fr_FR/Internet.php
index bc661f32..3f483d27 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/fr_FR/Internet.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/fr_FR/Internet.php
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Internet
         $company = $this->generator->format('company');
         $companyElements = explode(' ', $company);
         $company = $companyElements[0];
-        $company = preg_replace('/\W/', '', $company);
+        $company = preg_replace('/\W/u', '', $company);
 
         return static::toLower(static::toAscii($company));
     }
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/is_IS/Internet.php b/src/Faker/Provider/is_IS/Internet.php
index cc8be915..14715aa8 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/is_IS/Internet.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/is_IS/Internet.php
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Internet
         $company = $this->generator->format('company');
         $companyElements = explode(' ', $company);
         $company = $companyElements[0];
-        $company = preg_replace('/\W/', '', $company);
+        $company = preg_replace('/\W/u', '', $company);
 
         return static::toLower(static::toAscii($company));
     }
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/nl_BE/Internet.php b/src/Faker/Provider/nl_BE/Internet.php
index af12dbcb..aa9119d6 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/nl_BE/Internet.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/nl_BE/Internet.php
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Internet
         $company = $this->generator->format('company');
         $companyElements = explode(' ', $company);
         $company = $companyElements[0];
-        $company = preg_replace('/\W/', '', $company);
+        $company = preg_replace('/\W/u', '', $company);
 
         return static::toLower(static::toAscii($company));
     }
diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/ru_RU/Internet.php b/src/Faker/Provider/ru_RU/Internet.php
index 35320f9d..56d72d65 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/ru_RU/Internet.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/ru_RU/Internet.php
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class Internet extends \Faker\Provider\Internet
         $company = $this->generator->format('company');
         $companyElements = explode(' ', $company);
         $company = $companyElements[0];
-        $company = preg_replace('/,/', '', $company);
+        $company = preg_replace('/,/u', '', $company);
 
         return $company;
     }
diff --git a/test/Faker/Provider/ProviderOverrideTest.php b/test/Faker/Provider/ProviderOverrideTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..68e30c45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Faker/Provider/ProviderOverrideTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * @author Mark van der Velden <mark@dynom.nl>
+ */
+
+namespace Faker\Test\Provider;
+
+use Faker;
+
+/**
+ * Class ProviderOverrideTest
+ *
+ * @package Faker\Test\Provider
+ *
+ * This class tests a large portion of all locale specific providers. It does not test the entire stack, because each
+ * locale specific provider (can) has specific implementations. The goal of this test is to test the common denominator
+ * and to try to catch possible invalid multi-byte sequences.
+ */
+class ProviderOverrideTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
+{
+    /**
+     * Constants with regular expression patterns for testing the output.
+     *
+     * Regular expressions are sensitive for malformed strings (e.g.: strings with incorrect encodings) so by using
+     * PCRE for the tests, even though they seem fairly pointless, we test for incorrect encodings also.
+     */
+    const TEST_STRING_REGEX = '/.+/u';
+
+    /**
+     * Slightly more specific for e-mail, the point isn't to properly validate e-mails.
+     */
+    const TEST_EMAIL_REGEX = '/^(.+)@(.+)$/ui';
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider localeDataProvider
+     * @param string $locale
+     */
+    public function testAddress($locale = null)
+    {
+        $faker = Faker\Factory::create($locale);
+
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->city);
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->postcode);
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->address);
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->country);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider localeDataProvider
+     * @param string $locale
+     */
+    public function testCompany($locale = null)
+    {
+        $faker = Faker\Factory::create($locale);
+
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->company);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider localeDataProvider
+     * @param string $locale
+     */
+    public function testDateTime($locale = null)
+    {
+        $faker = Faker\Factory::create($locale);
+
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->century);
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->timezone);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider localeDataProvider
+     * @param string $locale
+     */
+    public function testInternet($locale = null)
+    {
+        $faker = Faker\Factory::create($locale);
+
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->userName);
+
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_EMAIL_REGEX, $faker->email);
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_EMAIL_REGEX, $faker->safeEmail);
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_EMAIL_REGEX, $faker->freeEmail);
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_EMAIL_REGEX, $faker->companyEmail);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider localeDataProvider
+     * @param string $locale
+     */
+    public function testPerson($locale = null)
+    {
+        $faker = Faker\Factory::create($locale);
+
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->name);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider localeDataProvider
+     * @param string $locale
+     */
+    public function testPhoneNumber($locale = null)
+    {
+        $faker = Faker\Factory::create($locale);
+
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->phoneNumber);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider localeDataProvider
+     * @param string $locale
+     */
+    public function testUserAgent($locale = null)
+    {
+        $faker = Faker\Factory::create($locale);
+
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->userAgent);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider localeDataProvider
+     *
+     * @param null $locale
+     * @param string $locale
+     */
+    public function testUuid($locale = null)
+    {
+        $faker = Faker\Factory::create($locale);
+
+        $this->assertRegExp(static::TEST_STRING_REGEX, $faker->uuid);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * @return array
+     */
+    public function localeDataProvider()
+    {
+        $locales = $this->getAllLocales();
+        $data = array();
+
+        foreach ($locales as $locale) {
+            $data[] = array(
+                $locale
+            );
+        }
+
+        return $data;
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * Returns all locales as array values
+     *
+     * @return array
+     */
+    private function getAllLocales()
+    {
+        static $locales = array();
+
+        if ( ! empty($locales)) {
+            return $locales;
+        }
+
+        // Finding all PHP files in the xx_XX directories
+        $providerDir = __DIR__ .'/../../../src/Faker/Provider';
+        foreach (glob($providerDir .'/*_*/*.php') as $file) {
+            $localisation = basename(dirname($file));
+
+            if (isset($locales[ $localisation ])) {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            $locales[ $localisation ] = $localisation;
+        }
+
+        return $locales;
+    }
+}