diff --git a/packages/api/src/utils/search.ts b/packages/api/src/utils/search.ts
index 196cd652f..57b02453e 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/utils/search.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/utils/search.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ export const parseSearchQuery = (query: string): LiqeQuery => {
     .replace(/(\w+):("([^"]+)"|([^")\s]+))/g, '$1:"$3$4"')
     // remove any quotes that are in the array value for example: label:"test","test2" -> label:"test,test2"
     .replace(/","/g, ',')
+    // wrap non-english words in quotes if they are not already
+    .replace(/([^":\s]+[\u0080-\uFFFF]+[^":\s]*)(?=\s|$|")/g, '"$1"')
+
+  console.log('searchQuery', searchQuery)
 
   return parse(searchQuery)
 }