diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.h b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.h
index 2f8c243e21c..d4915c809ab 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.h
@@ -140,7 +140,12 @@ UConverterSharedData;
 
 
 /*Defines a UConverter, the lightweight mutable part the user sees */
-U_CFUNC
+
+U_CDECL_BEGIN /* We must declare the following as 'extern "C"' so that if ucnv
+                 itself is compiled under C++, the linkage of the funcptrs will
+                 work.
+	      */
+
 struct UConverter
   {
     int32_t toUnicodeStatus;	/*Used to internalize stream status information */
@@ -198,6 +203,8 @@ struct UConverter
 				 */
   };
 
+U_CDECL_END /* end of UConverter */
+
 typedef struct UConverter UConverter;
 
 
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/utypes.h b/icu4c/source/common/utypes.h
index 010047edab5..af4f4017abf 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/utypes.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/utypes.h
@@ -119,8 +119,12 @@ typedef uint16_t UChar;
 
 #ifdef XP_CPLUSPLUS
 #   define U_CFUNC extern "C"
+#   define U_CDECL_BEGIN extern "C" {
+#   define U_CDECL_END   }
 #else
 #   define U_CFUNC
+#   define U_CDECL_BEGIN
+#   define U_CDECL_END
 #endif
 #define U_CAPI U_CFUNC U_EXPORT