diff --git a/hexchat.py b/hexchat.py
index 0bcc5c5..faa134b 100644
--- a/hexchat.py
+++ b/hexchat.py
@@ -6,6 +6,21 @@
 import functools
 import types
 
+#taken from: http://www.rfk.id.au/blog/entry/preparing-pyenchant-for-python-3/
+try:
+    unicode = unicode
+except NameError:
+    # 'unicode' is undefined, must be Python 3
+    str = str
+    unicode = str
+    bytes = bytes
+    basestring = (str,bytes)
+else:
+    # 'unicode' exists, must be Python 2
+    str = str
+    unicode = unicode
+    bytes = str
+
 
 __version__ = (1, 0)