diff --git a/src/baseTranspiler.ts b/src/baseTranspiler.ts
index c2d7de3..0db41db 100644
--- a/src/baseTranspiler.ts
+++ b/src/baseTranspiler.ts
@@ -962,13 +962,16 @@ class BaseTranspiler {
         if (text in this.StringLiteralReplacements) {
             return this.StringLiteralReplacements[text];
         }
+        // trick to preserve valid backslashes (e.g. \n, \t)
+        const backslashPlaceholder = "\x00";
+        text = text.replaceAll("\\", backslashPlaceholder);
         text = text.replaceAll("\b", "\\b");
         text = text.replaceAll("\f", "\\f");
         text = text.replaceAll("\n", "\\n");
         text = text.replaceAll("\r", "\\r");
         text = text.replaceAll("\t", "\\t");
+        text = text.replaceAll(backslashPlaceholder, "\\\\");
         if (token === "'") {
-            text = text.replaceAll("\\\"", "\""); // unscape double quotes
             text = text.replaceAll("'", "\\'"); // escape single quotes
         } else if (token === "\"") {
             text = text.replaceAll("\"", "\\\""); // escape double quotes
diff --git a/src/goTranspiler.ts b/src/goTranspiler.ts
index ef8bd77..38128e1 100644
--- a/src/goTranspiler.ts
+++ b/src/goTranspiler.ts
@@ -169,9 +169,17 @@ export class GoTranspiler extends BaseTranspiler {
         if (text in this.StringLiteralReplacements) {
             return this.StringLiteralReplacements[text];
         }
-        text = text.replaceAll("'", "\\\\" + "'");
-        text = text.replaceAll("\"", "\\" + "\"");
+        // Preserve real backslashes
+        const backslashPlaceholder = "\x00";
+        text = text.replaceAll("\\", backslashPlaceholder);
+        text = text.replaceAll("\b", "\\b");
+        text = text.replaceAll("\f", "\\f");
         text = text.replaceAll("\n", "\\n");
+        text = text.replaceAll("\r", "\\r");
+        text = text.replaceAll("\t", "\\t");
+        text = text.replaceAll(backslashPlaceholder, "\\\\");
+        text = text.replaceAll("'", "\\'");
+        text = text.replaceAll("\"", "\\\"");
         return token + text + token;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/rustTranspiler.ts b/src/rustTranspiler.ts
index fc31ca2..715d5cc 100644
--- a/src/rustTranspiler.ts
+++ b/src/rustTranspiler.ts
@@ -161,11 +161,16 @@ export class RustTranspiler extends BaseTranspiler {
         if (text in this.StringLiteralReplacements) {
             return this.StringLiteralReplacements[text];
         }
-        text = text.replaceAll('\\', '\\\\');
+        // Preserve real backslashes
+        const backslashPlaceholder = "\x00";
+        text = text.replaceAll("\\", backslashPlaceholder);
+        text = text.replaceAll("\b", "\\b");
+        text = text.replaceAll("\f", "\\f");
+        text = text.replaceAll("\n", "\\n");
+        text = text.replaceAll("\r", "\\r");
+        text = text.replaceAll("\t", "\\t");
+        text = text.replaceAll(backslashPlaceholder, "\\\\");
         text = text.replaceAll('"', '\\"');
-        text = text.replaceAll('\n', '\\n');
-        text = text.replaceAll('\r', '\\r');
-        text = text.replaceAll('\t', '\\t');
         return `Value::Str("${text}".to_string())`;
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/pythonTranspiler.test.ts b/tests/pythonTranspiler.test.ts
index bbcd5e1..37a9aac 100644
--- a/tests/pythonTranspiler.test.ts
+++ b/tests/pythonTranspiler.test.ts
@@ -812,6 +812,12 @@ describe('python tests', () => {
         const output = transpiler.transpilePython(ts).content;
         expect(output).toBe(python);
     });
+    test('string literal with backslash escapes', () => {
+        const ts = "const string2 = '{\"k\":123.1,\"k2\":\"{\\\\\"k3\\\\\":456}\"}';";
+        const python = "string2 = '{\"k\":123.1,\"k2\":\"{\\\\\"k3\\\\\":456}\"}'";
+        const output = transpiler.transpilePython(ts).content;
+        expect(output).toBe(python);
+    });
     test('should convert isArray', () => {
         const ts = "Array.isArray(x)";
         const result = "isinstance(x, list)";