diff --git a/categories/base.py b/categories/base.py
index 49bc91b..e73e911 100644
--- a/categories/base.py
+++ b/categories/base.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from mptt.fields import TreeForeignKey
 from mptt.managers import TreeManager
 
 from .editor.tree_editor import TreeEditor
-from .settings import ALLOW_SLUG_CHANGE
+from .settings import ALLOW_SLUG_CHANGE, SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR
 
 class CategoryManager(models.Manager):
     """
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class CategoryBase(MPTTModel):
         decendants remain active.
         """
         if not self.slug:
-            self.slug = slugify(self.name)[:50]
+            self.slug = slugify(SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR(self.name))[:50]
         
         super(CategoryBase, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
         
diff --git a/categories/management/commands/import_categories.py b/categories/management/commands/import_categories.py
index 8ff419c..b417581 100644
--- a/categories/management/commands/import_categories.py
+++ b/categories/management/commands/import_categories.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand, CommandError
-from categories.models import Category
 from django.template.defaultfilters import slugify
 from django.db import transaction
 
+from categories.models import Category
+from categories.settings import SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR
+
 class Command(BaseCommand):
     """Import category trees from a file."""
     
@@ -30,7 +32,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         """
         cat = Category(
             name=string.strip(),
-            slug=slugify(string.strip())[:49],
+            slug=slugify(SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR(string.strip()))[:49],
             #parent=parent,
             order=order
         )
diff --git a/categories/settings.py b/categories/settings.py
index 9fc2837..b27232b 100644
--- a/categories/settings.py
+++ b/categories/settings.py
@@ -12,10 +12,25 @@ DEFAULT_SETTINGS = {
     'THUMBNAIL_UPLOAD_PATH': 'uploads/categories/thumbnails',
     'THUMBNAIL_STORAGE': settings.DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE,
     'JAVASCRIPT_URL': getattr(settings, 'STATIC_URL', settings.MEDIA_URL) + 'js/',
+    'SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR': '',
 }
 
 DEFAULT_SETTINGS.update(getattr(settings, 'CATEGORIES_SETTINGS', {}))
 
+if DEFAULT_SETTINGS['SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR']:
+    if callable(DEFAULT_SETTINGS['SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR']):
+        pass
+    elif isinstance(DEFAULT_SETTINGS['SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR'], basestring):
+        from django.utils.importlib import import_module
+        bits = DEFAULT_SETTINGS['SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR'].split(".")
+        module = import_module(".".join(bits[:-1]))
+        DEFAULT_SETTINGS['SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR'] = getattr(module, bits[-1])
+    else:
+        from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+        raise ImproperlyConfigured("SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR must be a callable or a string.")
+else:
+    DEFAULT_SETTINGS['SLUG_TRANSLITERATOR'] = lambda x: x
+
 ERR_MSG = "settings.%s is deprecated; use settings.CATEGORIES_SETTINGS instead."
 
 if hasattr(settings, 'CATEGORIES_ALLOW_SLUG_CHANGE'):