diff --git a/searx/engines/dictzone.py b/searx/engines/dictzone.py
index 7c347862..7cc44df7 100644
--- a/searx/engines/dictzone.py
+++ b/searx/engines/dictzone.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def request(query, params):
 
     params['url'] = url.format(from_lang=from_lang[2],
                                to_lang=to_lang[2],
-                               query=query)
+                               query=query.decode('utf-8'))
 
     return params
 
diff --git a/searx/utils.py b/searx/utils.py
index 498f8d0b..3df57116 100644
--- a/searx/utils.py
+++ b/searx/utils.py
@@ -295,12 +295,12 @@ def is_valid_lang(lang):
     if is_abbr:
         for l in language_codes:
             if l[0][:2] == lang.lower():
-                return (True, l[0][:2], l[1].lower())
+                return (True, l[0][:2], l[3].lower())
         return False
     else:
         for l in language_codes:
             if l[1].lower() == lang.lower():
-                return (True, l[0][:2], l[1].lower())
+                return (True, l[0][:2], l[3].lower())
         return False