--- trunk/xml2po/xml2po.py	2007/03/02 09:41:10	892
+++ trunk/xml2po/xml2po.py	2008/07/13 23:14:50	1109
@@ -507,7 +507,7 @@
         if mode == 'merge':
             translation = getTranslation(outtxt, isSpacePreserveNode(node))
         else:
-            translation = outtxt
+            translation = outtxt.decode('utf-8')
 
         starttag = startTagForNode(node)
         endtag = endTagForNode(node)