Index: wp-includes/script-loader.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/script-loader.php	(revision 19879)
+++ wp-includes/script-loader.php	(working copy)
@@ -276,6 +276,11 @@
 	$scripts->add( 'wpdialogs-popup', "/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wpdialogs/js/popup$suffix.js", array( 'wpdialogs' ), false, 1 );
 
 	$scripts->add( 'word-count', "/wp-admin/js/word-count$suffix.js", array( 'jquery' ), false, 1 );
+	$scripts->localize( 'word-count', 'wordCountL10n', array(
+		/* translators: If your word count is based on single characters (East Asian characters),
+		   enter 'characters'. Otherwise, enter 'words'. Do not translate into your own language. */
+		'type' => 'characters' == _x( 'words', 'word count: words or characters?' ) ? 'c' : 'w',
+	) );
 
 	$scripts->add( 'media-upload', "/wp-admin/js/media-upload$suffix.js", array( 'thickbox' ), false, 1 );
 
Index: wp-admin/js/word-count.dev.js
===================================================================
--- wp-admin/js/word-count.dev.js	(revision 19879)
+++ wp-admin/js/word-count.dev.js	(working copy)
@@ -1,18 +1,23 @@
-
-(function($) {
+(function($,undefined) {
 	wpWordCount = {
 
 		settings : {
 			strip : /<[a-zA-Z\/][^<>]*>/g, // strip HTML tags
 			clean : /[0-9.(),;:!?%#$¿'"_+=\\/-]+/g, // regexp to remove punctuation, etc.
-			count : /\S\s+/g // counting regexp
+			w : /\S\s+/g, // word-counting regexp
+			c : /\S/g // char-counting regexp for asian languages
 		},
 
 		block : 0,
 
-		wc : function(tx) {
+		wc : function(tx, type) {
 			var t = this, w = $('.word-count'), tc = 0;
 
+			if ( type === undefined )
+				type = wordCountL10n.type;
+			if ( type !== 'w' && type !== 'c' )
+				type = 'w';
+
 			if ( t.block )
 				return;
 
@@ -22,7 +27,7 @@
 				if ( tx ) {
 					tx = tx.replace( t.settings.strip, ' ' ).replace( /&nbsp;|&#160;/gi, ' ' );
 					tx = tx.replace( t.settings.clean, '' );
-					tx.replace( t.settings.count, function(){tc++;} );
+					tx.replace( t.settings[type], function(){tc++;} );
 				}
 				w.html(tc.toString());