diff --git a/python/postal/expand.py b/python/postal/expand.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5586a65a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/postal/expand.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import _expand
+from postal.text.encoding import safe_decode
+
+DEFAULT_LANGUAGES = ('en',)
+
+
+def expand_address(address, languages=DEFAULT_LANGUAGES, **kw):
+    '''
+    @param address: the address as either Unicode or a UTF-8 encoded string
+    @param languages: a tuple or list of ISO language code strings (e.g. "en", "fr", "de", etc.)
+                      to use in expansion. Default is English. Until automatic language classification
+                      is ready in libpostal, this parameter is required.
+
+    '''
+    address = safe_decode(address, 'utf-8')
+    return _expand.expand_address(address, languages=languages, **kw)