diff --git a/mwparserfromhell/string_mixin.py b/mwparserfromhell/string_mixin.py
index 7d269f5..efd28d8 100644
--- a/mwparserfromhell/string_mixin.py
+++ b/mwparserfromhell/string_mixin.py
@@ -143,19 +143,21 @@ class StringMixIn(object):
     if not py3k:
         @inheritdoc
         def decode(self, encoding=None, errors=None):
-            if errors is None:
-                if encoding is None:
-                    return self.__unicode__().decode()
-                return self.__unicode__().decode(encoding)
-            return self.__unicode__().decode(encoding, errors)
+            kwargs = {}
+            if encoding is not None:
+                kwargs["encoding"] = encoding
+            if errors is not None:
+                kwargs["errors"] = errors
+            return self.__unicode__().decode(**kwargs)
 
     @inheritdoc
     def encode(self, encoding=None, errors=None):
-        if errors is None:
-            if encoding is None:
-                return self.__unicode__().encode()
-            return self.__unicode__().encode(encoding)
-        return self.__unicode__().encode(encoding, errors)
+        kwargs = {}
+        if encoding is not None:
+            kwargs["encoding"] = encoding
+        if errors is not None:
+            kwargs["errors"] = errors
+        return self.__unicode__().encode(**kwargs)
 
     @inheritdoc
     def endswith(self, prefix, start=None, end=None):
@@ -286,25 +288,45 @@ class StringMixIn(object):
     def rpartition(self, sep):
         return self.__unicode__().rpartition(sep)
 
-    @inheritdoc
-    def rsplit(self, sep=None, maxsplit=None):
-        if maxsplit is None:
-            if sep is None:
-                return self.__unicode__().rsplit()
-            return self.__unicode__().rsplit(sep)
-        return self.__unicode__().rsplit(sep, maxsplit)
+    if py3k:
+        @inheritdoc
+        def rsplit(self, sep=None, maxsplit=None):
+            kwargs = {}
+            if sep is not None:
+                kwargs["sep"] = sep
+            if maxsplit is not None:
+                kwargs["maxsplit"] = maxsplit
+            return self.__unicode__().rsplit(**kwargs)
+    else:
+        @inheritdoc
+        def rsplit(self, sep=None, maxsplit=None):
+            if maxsplit is None:
+                if sep is None:
+                    return self.__unicode__().rsplit()
+                return self.__unicode__().rsplit(sep)
+            return self.__unicode__().rsplit(sep, maxsplit)
 
     @inheritdoc
     def rstrip(self, chars=None):
         return self.__unicode__().rstrip(chars)
 
-    @inheritdoc
-    def split(self, sep=None, maxsplit=None):
-        if maxsplit is None:
-            if sep is None:
-                return self.__unicode__().split()
-            return self.__unicode__().split(sep)
-        return self.__unicode__().split(sep, maxsplit)
+    if py3k:
+        @inheritdoc
+        def split(self, sep=None, maxsplit=None):
+            kwargs = {}
+            if sep is not None:
+                kwargs["sep"] = sep
+            if maxsplit is not None:
+                kwargs["maxsplit"] = maxsplit
+            return self.__unicode__().split(**kwargs)
+    else:
+        @inheritdoc
+        def split(self, sep=None, maxsplit=None):
+            if maxsplit is None:
+                if sep is None:
+                    return self.__unicode__().split()
+                return self.__unicode__().split(sep)
+            return self.__unicode__().split(sep, maxsplit)
 
     @inheritdoc
     def splitlines(self, keepends=None):
diff --git a/tests/test_string_mixin.py b/tests/test_string_mixin.py
index 0d95311..8d86c8e 100644
--- a/tests/test_string_mixin.py
+++ b/tests/test_string_mixin.py
@@ -189,10 +189,14 @@ class TestStringMixIn(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(b"fake string", str1.encode())
         self.assertEquals(b"\xF0\x90\x8C\xB2\xF0\x90\x8C\xBF\xF0\x90\x8D\x84",
                           str3.encode("utf8"))
+        self.assertEquals(b"\xF0\x90\x8C\xB2\xF0\x90\x8C\xBF\xF0\x90\x8D\x84",
+                          str3.encode(encoding="utf8"))
         self.assertRaises(UnicodeEncodeError, str3.encode)
         self.assertRaises(UnicodeEncodeError, str3.encode, "ascii")
         self.assertRaises(UnicodeEncodeError, str3.encode, "ascii", "strict")
+        self.assertRaises(UnicodeEncodeError, str3.encode, errors="strict")
         self.assertEquals("", str3.encode("ascii", "ignore"))
+        self.assertEquals("", str3.encode(errors="ignore"))
 
         self.assertTrue(str1.endswith("ing"))
         self.assertFalse(str1.endswith("ingh"))
@@ -358,6 +362,8 @@ class TestStringMixIn(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(actual, str25.rsplit(None, 3))
         actual = ["   this is a   sentence with", "", "whitespace", ""]
         self.assertEquals(actual, str25.rsplit(" ", 3))
+        if py3k:
+            self.assertEquals(actual, str25.rsplit(maxsplit=3))
 
         self.assertEquals("fake string", str1.rstrip())
         self.assertEquals("  fake string", str23.rstrip())
@@ -373,6 +379,8 @@ class TestStringMixIn(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(actual, str25.split(None, 3))
         actual = ["", "", "", "this is a   sentence with  whitespace "]
         self.assertEquals(actual, str25.split(" ", 3))
+        if py3k:
+            self.assertEquals(actual, str25.split(maxsplit=3))
 
         str26 = _FakeString("lines\nof\ntext\r\nare\r\npresented\nhere")
         self.assertEquals(["lines", "of", "text", "are", "presented", "here"],