diff --git a/xml2po/xml2po/__init__.py b/xml2po/xml2po/__init__.py
index 00f4bbd..100f19b 100644
--- a/xml2po/xml2po/__init__.py
+++ b/xml2po/xml2po/__init__.py
@@ -464,7 +464,7 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
             norm_outtxt = self.normalizeString(outtxt, self.app.isSpacePreserveNode(node))
             translation = self.app.getTranslation(norm_outtxt)
         else:
-            translation = outtxt.decode('utf-8')
+            translation = outtxt.encode('utf-8').decode('utf-8')
 
         starttag = self.startTagForNode(node)
         endtag = self.endTagForNode(node)
@@ -556,7 +556,7 @@ class Main(object):
         elif output == '-':
             self.out = sys.stdout
         else:
-            self.out = file(output, 'w')
+            self.out = open(output, 'w')
 
     def load_mode(self, modename):
         try: