--- a/virtaal/support/mosesclient.py
+++ b/virtaal/support/mosesclient.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
from virtaal.support.httpclient import HTTPClient, HTTPRequest
# Moses handles these characters as spaced out
-punc_symbols = ur'''.,?!:;'"“”‘’—)'''
+punc_symbols = '''.,?!:;'"“”‘’—)'''
punc_tuples = [(c, u" %s" % c) for c in punc_symbols]