I have a requirement where I am trying to automate the registration form which is in French language, while automating I am trying to get the text of the error messages which are in French(localised) language.

Example code snippet:

    String text=driver.getText(By.cssSelector("#first_name + label.error"));//which gets the localised error message string

When I print the text some junk characters are getting printed.
Actual output which is printed: 

    Seulement alphabets, des chiffres et des espaces sont autoris�

Expected output: `Seulement Alphabets, des chiffres et des espaces sont autorisés`

I am trying to `assertEquals(actualoutput,expectedoutput)` which is getting failed

I am getting the expected output from the `language.properties` file where translated text is there(which is  UTF-8 converted and loaded as properties file).

I have even tried to convert the actual output to UTF-8 with the below code

    byte ptext[] = text.getBytes("ISO-8859-1");
    actualMessage=new String(ptext,"UTF-8");

But still it is not working getting printed with the junk characters as mentioned above. (`Seulement alphabets, des chiffres et des espaces sont autoris�)`
Does the getText() gets the text in  UTF-8 converted?

Please let me know your thoughts on this and help me.

Thanks
Sairkishna