cgi21, I have the same problem so I tested your solution. It works great for adding (ie non-english categories appear) but when you try to validate the new link you get the following error:

CGI ERROR
==========================================
Error Message : fatal error: Undefined subroutine &main::kategorie_title_mb called at.... admin/db_utils.pl line 190.

My code in sub build_select_field:

foreach $field (@fields) {
$kategory{$field} = &kategorie_title_mb($field);
$values{$field} ?
($output .= "<OPTION SELECTED VALUE=\"$field\">$kategory{$field}\n") :
($output .= "<OPTION VALUE=\"$field\">$kategory{$field}");
}

Any solution?