Index: wp-includes/script-loader.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/script-loader.php	(revision 16581)
+++ wp-includes/script-loader.php	(working copy)
@@ -374,11 +374,20 @@
 
 		$scripts->add( 'admin-widgets', "/wp-admin/js/widgets$suffix.js", array( 'jquery-ui-sortable', 'jquery-ui-draggable', 'jquery-ui-droppable' ), '20101007' );
 		$scripts->add_data( 'admin-widgets', 'group', 1 );
+		
+		if ( defined( 'WPLANG' ) && preg_match( '/^(bo|dz|ii|ja|km|my|th|zh)/', WPLANG ) ) {
+			$counting_string = __('Character count: %d');
+			$counting_method = 'character';
+		} else {
+			$counting_string = __('Word count: %d');
+			$counting_method = 'word';
+		}
 
 		$scripts->add( 'word-count', "/wp-admin/js/word-count$suffix.js", array( 'jquery' ), '20090422' );
 		$scripts->add_data( 'word-count', 'group', 1 );
 		$scripts->localize( 'word-count', 'wordCountL10n', array(
-			'count' => __('Word count: %d'),
+			'count' => $counting_string,
+			'method' => $counting_method,
 			'l10n_print_after' => 'try{convertEntities(wordCountL10n);}catch(e){};'
 		));
 
Index: wp-admin/js/word-count.dev.js
===================================================================
--- wp-admin/js/word-count.dev.js	(revision 16578)
+++ wp-admin/js/word-count.dev.js	(working copy)
@@ -24,9 +24,19 @@
 
 			setTimeout( function() {
 				if ( tx ) {
-					tx = tx.replace( /<.[^<>]*?>/g, ' ' ).replace( /&nbsp;|&#160;/gi, ' ' );
-					tx = tx.replace( /[0-9.(),;:!?%#$¿'"_+=\\/-]*/g, '' );
-					tx.replace( /\S\s+/g, function(){tc++;} );
+					if (wordCountL10n.method == 'character') {
+					    tx = tx.replace(/<.[^<>]*?>/g, '');
+					    tx = tx.replace(/&(nbsp|#160|#x00a0);/gi, '');
+					    tx = tx.replace(/[　\s]/g, '');
+					    tx = tx.replace(/&(#[\d]{2,5}|#x[a-fA-F\d]{1,4}|[a-zA-Z]{2,8}[1-4]{0,2});/g, ' ');
+					    tc = tx.length;
+					} else {
+					    tx = tx.replace(/<.[^<>]*?>/g, " ").replace(/&nbsp;|&#160;/gi, " ");
+					    tx = tx.replace(/[0-9.(),;:!?%#$¿'"_+=\\/-]*/g, "");
+					    tx.replace(/\S\s+/g, function () {
+					        tc++;
+					    });
+					}
 				}
 				w.html(tc.toString());
 
Index: wp-admin/js/word-count.js
===================================================================
--- wp-admin/js/word-count.js	(revision 16578)
+++ wp-admin/js/word-count.js	(working copy)
@@ -1 +1 @@
-(function(a){wpWordCount={init:function(){var b=this,c=0,d=a("#content");a("#wp-word-count").html(wordCountL10n.count.replace(/%d/,'<span id="word-count">0</span>'));b.block=0;b.wc(d.val());d.keyup(function(f){if(f.keyCode==c){return true}if(13==f.keyCode||8==c||46==c){b.wc(d.val())}c=f.keyCode;return true})},wc:function(d){var e=this,c=a("#word-count"),b=0;if(e.block){return}e.block=1;setTimeout(function(){if(d){d=d.replace(/<.[^<>]*?>/g," ").replace(/&nbsp;|&#160;/gi," ");d=d.replace(/[0-9.(),;:!?%#$¿'"_+=\\/-]*/g,"");d.replace(/\S\s+/g,function(){b++})}c.html(b.toString());setTimeout(function(){e.block=0},2000)},1)}};a(document).ready(function(){wpWordCount.init()})}(jQuery));
\ No newline at end of file
+(function(a){wpWordCount={init:function(){var b=this,c=0,d=a("#content");a("#wp-word-count").html(wordCountL10n.count.replace(/%d/,'<span id="word-count">0</span>'));b.block=0;b.wc(d.val());d.keyup(function(f){if(f.keyCode==c){return true}if(13==f.keyCode||8==c||46==c){b.wc(d.val())}c=f.keyCode;return true})},wc:function(d){var e=this,c=a("#word-count"),b=0;if(e.block){return}e.block=1;setTimeout(function(){if (d) {if ( wordCountL10n.method == 'character' ) {d = d.replace( /<.[^<>]*?>/g, '' );d = d.replace( /&(nbsp|#160|#x00a0);/gi, '' );d = d.replace( /[　\s]/g, '' );d = d.replace( /&(#[\d]{2,5}|#x[a-fA-F\d]{1,4}|[a-zA-Z]{2,8}[1-4]{0,2});/g, ' ' );b = d.length;} else {d = d.replace(/<.[^<>]*?>/g, " ").replace(/&nbsp;|&#160;/gi, " ");d = d.replace(/[0-9.(),;:!?%#$¿'"_+=\\/-]*/g, "");d.replace(/\S\s+/g, function () {b++;});}}c.html(b.toString());setTimeout(function(){e.block=0},2000)},1)}};a(document).ready(function(){wpWordCount.init()})}(jQuery));
\ No newline at end of file