diff --git a/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/MainActivity.java b/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/MainActivity.java
index fba9987d6..1e5f8c06e 100644
--- a/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/MainActivity.java
+++ b/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/MainActivity.java
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ public class MainActivity extends Activity {
 
     private TTS mTts;
 
-    private Translator mTranslator;
+    // mTranslator is static to ensure that the grammar
+    // is loaded only once even if the activity has been recreated.
+    private static Translator mTranslator;
 
     @Override
     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
@@ -65,14 +67,9 @@ public class MainActivity extends Activity {
 
         mTts = new TTS(this);
 
-        mTranslator = new Translator(this);
-        new AsyncTask<Void,Void,Void>() {
-            @Override
-            protected Void doInBackground(Void... params) {
-                mTranslator.init();
-                return null;
-            }
-        }.execute();
+        if (mTranslator == null) {
+        	mTranslator = new Translator(this);
+        }
 
         mSourceLanguageView.setLanguages(mTranslator.getAvailableSourceLanguages());
         mSourceLanguageView.setSelectedLanguage(mTranslator.getSourceLanguage());
diff --git a/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/Translator.java b/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/Translator.java
index 1d6e081e8..1bf5eb1a3 100644
--- a/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/Translator.java
+++ b/src/ui/android/src/org/grammaticalframework/ui/android/Translator.java
@@ -71,10 +71,10 @@ public class Translator {
      */
     public String translate(String input) {
         try {
-            Concr sourceGrammar = getConcr(getSourceLanguage().getConcrete());
-            Expr expr = sourceGrammar.parseBest("S", input);
-            Concr targetGrammar = getConcr(getTargetLanguage().getConcrete());
-            String output = targetGrammar.linearize(expr);
+            Concr sourceLang = getConcr(getSourceLanguage().getConcrete());
+            Expr expr = sourceLang.parseBest(getGrammar().getStartCat(), input);
+            Concr targetLang = getConcr(getTargetLanguage().getConcrete());
+            String output = targetLang.linearize(expr);
             return output;
         } catch (ParseError e) {
             Log.e(TAG, "Parse error: " + e);