diff --git a/scripts/geodata/language_id/disambiguation.py b/scripts/geodata/language_id/disambiguation.py
index 4997bdcd..d0438d8f 100644
--- a/scripts/geodata/language_id/disambiguation.py
+++ b/scripts/geodata/language_id/disambiguation.py
@@ -192,8 +192,8 @@ script_languages = {}
 
 def init_disambiguation():
     global char_scripts, script_languages
-    char_scripts.extend(get_chars_by_script())
-    script_languages.update({script: set(langs) for script, langs in get_script_languages().iteritems()})
+    char_scripts = get_chars_by_script()
+    script_languages = {script: set(langs) for script, langs in get_script_languages().iteritems()}
 
 UNKNOWN_SCRIPT = 'Unknown'
 COMMON_SCRIPT = 'Common'
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ AMBIGUOUS_LANGUAGE = 'xxx'
 
 
 def disambiguate_language(text, languages):
+    text = safe_decode(text)
     valid_languages = OrderedDict(languages)
     script_langs = {}
     read_len = 0
@@ -245,7 +246,7 @@ def disambiguate_language(text, languages):
 
     num_defaults = sum((1 for lang, default in valid_languages.iteritems() if default))
 
-    tokens = normalized_tokens((safe_decode(text)))
+    tokens = normalized_tokens(text)
 
     current_lang = None
     possible_lang = None