[derfelix]

well i can only tell you how i imported some russian language files... in utf8 in 3.8 (as I read they didnt change a lot but will only in 4.1 or 4.2)

First, change the heading of the xml file.. back to ISO
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

BUT when you save it.. make sure it stays in UTF8 format (it is now) so dont change that..

(you can see it in your editor.. (when you do save as.. there should be an option with the encoding)

before importing the product, make sure overwrite option is on...

Main problem will be that your default master language is NOT a cyrillic language.. but the phrases imported with the product in masterlanguage are cyrillic..

Set ALL your languages to UTF8, even the english...

All Other languages have to be reimported..
Before reimporting, open them in your favorite editor (I use edit plus but there are lots of free ones out there..) and do a save as.. with encoding set to UTF8 . (dont change the code inside.. just the fileencoding with your editor )
See attached thumbnail..

THEN make sure that ALL languages are set to UTF8 in language manager.

That worked for me...
F.