diff --git a/core/alien/strings/strings.factor b/core/alien/strings/strings.factor
index fce6c40562..47b071c184 100644
--- a/core/alien/strings/strings.factor
+++ b/core/alien/strings/strings.factor
@@ -57,9 +57,13 @@ M: string string>symbol utf8 string>alien ;
 
 M: sequence string>symbol [ utf8 string>alien ] map ;
 
-: symbol>string ( alien -- str )
+: (symbol>string) ( alien -- str )
     utf8 alien>string ;
 
+GENERIC: symbol>string ( symbol(s) -- string(s) )
+M: byte-array symbol>string (symbol>string) ;
+M: array symbol>string [ (symbol>string) ] map ;
+
 [
      8 special-object utf8 alien>string string>cpu \ cpu set-global
      9 special-object utf8 alien>string string>os \ os set-global