diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/tts/windows.py b/src/calibre/gui2/tts/windows.py
index 4de8514ec4..26172b5b04 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/tts/windows.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/tts/windows.py
@@ -99,8 +99,6 @@ class Client:
         from calibre_extensions.winsapi import (
             SPF_ASYNC, SPF_IS_NOT_XML, SPF_PURGEBEFORESPEAK, SPF_IS_XML
         )
-        import unicodedata
-        text = unicodedata.normalize('NFC', text)
         flags = SPF_IS_XML if is_xml else SPF_IS_NOT_XML
         self.current_stream_number = self.sp_voice.speak(text, flags | SPF_PURGEBEFORESPEAK | SPF_ASYNC, want_events)
         return self.current_stream_number
diff --git a/src/pyj/read_book/find.pyj b/src/pyj/read_book/find.pyj
index f1577be114..550fb23f17 100644
--- a/src/pyj/read_book/find.pyj
+++ b/src/pyj/read_book/find.pyj
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ def index_for_node(node, node_list):
             return entry.offset
 
 
+def tts_word_regex():
+    return /[\p{L}\p{M}]+/gu
+
+
 def tts_data(text_node, offset):
     offset_in_flat_text = offset or 0
     if not cache.text_map:
@@ -55,7 +59,7 @@ def tts_data(text_node, offset):
     last = None
     marked_text = v'[]'
     text = cache.text_map.flat_text[offset_in_flat_text:]
-    for v'match of text.matchAll(/\w+/g)':
+    for v'match of text.matchAll(tts_word_regex())':
         start = match.index
         if first:
             first = False
@@ -162,7 +166,7 @@ def select_tts_mark(idx_in_flat_text):
     window.getSelection().removeAllRanges()
     if not cache.text_map:
         cache.text_map = build_text_map()
-    r = /\w+/g
+    r = tts_word_regex()
     r.lastIndex = idx_in_flat_text
     match = v'r.exec(cache.text_map.flat_text)'
     word_length = 5