Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/data/osm/visitor/paint/StyledMapRenderer.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/data/osm/visitor/paint/StyledMapRenderer.java	(revision 8110)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/data/osm/visitor/paint/StyledMapRenderer.java	(revision 8111)
@@ -26,4 +26,5 @@
 import java.awt.geom.Point2D;
 import java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D;
+import java.text.Bidi;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -1204,5 +1205,15 @@
 
         FontRenderContext frc = g.getFontRenderContext();
-        GlyphVector gv = text.font.createGlyphVector(frc, name);
+        char[] chars = name.toCharArray();
+        int dirFlag = Bidi.DIRECTION_LEFT_TO_RIGHT;
+        if (Bidi.requiresBidi(chars, 0, chars.length)) {
+            Bidi bd = new Bidi(name, Bidi.DIRECTION_DEFAULT_LEFT_TO_RIGHT);
+            if (bd.isRightToLeft()) {
+                dirFlag = Bidi.DIRECTION_RIGHT_TO_LEFT;
+            }
+        }
+        // only works for text that is completely left-to-right or completely
+        // right-to-left, not bi-directional text
+        GlyphVector gv = text.font.layoutGlyphVector(frc, chars, 0, chars.length, dirFlag);
 
         for (int i=0; i<gv.getNumGlyphs(); ++i) {