diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/dictionary.c b/src/libespeak-ng/dictionary.c
index 1784eb7e..90f3e668 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/dictionary.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/dictionary.c
@@ -2909,9 +2909,8 @@ int Lookup(Translator *tr, const char *word, char *ph_out)
 	if (flags[0] & FLAG_TEXTMODE) {
 		say_as = option_sayas;
 		option_sayas = 0; // don't speak replacement word as letter names
-		text[0] = 0;
-		strncpy0(&text[1], word1, sizeof(text));
-		flags0 = TranslateWord(tr, &text[1], NULL, NULL);
+		strncpy0(text, word1, sizeof(text));
+		flags0 = TranslateWord(tr, text, NULL, NULL);
 		strcpy(ph_out, word_phonemes);
 		option_sayas = say_as;
 	}