diff --git a/dawg/Makefile.langcommon b/dawg/Makefile.langcommon
index d3a7374db..a712cc859 100644
--- a/dawg/Makefile.langcommon
+++ b/dawg/Makefile.langcommon
@@ -32,8 +32,10 @@ LANGUAGE = $(shell basename $$(pwd))
 
 # prefer the compiled version if available.  But don't compile it
 # automatically until it's a bit better tested.
-DICT2DAWG = $(if $(shell test -x ../dict2dawg && echo foo),\
-		../dict2dawg,../dict2dawg.pl)
+# DICT2DAWG = $(if $(shell test -x ../dict2dawg && echo foo),\
+# 		../dict2dawg,../dict2dawg.pl)
+
+DICT2DAWG = ../dict2dawg
 
 #all: target_all
 
@@ -268,6 +270,10 @@ values.bin:  ../xloc.pl
 %.dict: %.dict.gz
 	zcat $< > $@
 
+# clean this up....
+../dict2dawg: ../dict2dawg.cpp
+	cd ../ && g++ -DDEBUG -O -o dict2dawg dict2dawg.cpp
+
 clean_common:
 	rm -f $(XWLANG)Main.dict *.bin *.pdb *.seb dawg*.stamp *.$(FRANK_EXT) \
 		$(XWLANG)*.pdb $(XWLANG)*.seb 
diff --git a/dawg/dict2dawg.cpp b/dawg/dict2dawg.cpp
index 8236eead3..a7f3f8156 100644
--- a/dawg/dict2dawg.cpp
+++ b/dawg/dict2dawg.cpp
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ readFromSortedArray( void )
     }
 
     for ( ; ; ) {
-        char* word = "";
+        char* word = (char*)"";
 
         if ( !gDone ) {
             gDone = gNextWordIndex == sInputStrings->size();
@@ -570,7 +570,7 @@ readFromFile( void )
             gDone = NULL == word;
         }
         if ( gDone ) {
-            word = "";
+            word = (char*)"";
             len = 0;
         }