diff --git a/jellyfish/_jellyfish.py b/jellyfish/_jellyfish.py
index f3a4c9b..4ebe264 100644
--- a/jellyfish/_jellyfish.py
+++ b/jellyfish/_jellyfish.py
@@ -1,16 +1,22 @@
 import unicodedata
 from collections import defaultdict
-from .compat import _range, _zip_longest, _no_bytes_err
+from .compat import _range, _zip_longest, _no_bytes_err, IS_PY3
 from .porter import Stemmer
 
 
 def _normalize(s):
     return unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', s)
 
+def _check_type(s):
+
+    if IS_PY3 and not isinstance(s, str):
+        raise TypeError('expected str or unicode, got %s' % type(s).__name__)
+    elif not IS_PY3 and not isinstance(s, unicode):
+        raise TypeError('expected unicode, got %s' % type(s).__name__)
 
 def levenshtein_distance(s1, s2):
-    if isinstance(s1, bytes) or isinstance(s2, bytes):
-        raise TypeError(_no_bytes_err)
+    _check_type(s1)
+    _check_type(s2)
 
     if s1 == s2:
         return 0
@@ -36,8 +42,8 @@ def levenshtein_distance(s1, s2):
 
 
 def _jaro_winkler(ying, yang, long_tolerance, winklerize):
-    if isinstance(ying, bytes) or isinstance(yang, bytes):
-        raise TypeError(_no_bytes_err)
+    _check_type(ying)
+    _check_type(yang)
 
     ying_len = len(ying)
     yang_len = len(yang)
@@ -106,8 +112,8 @@ def _jaro_winkler(ying, yang, long_tolerance, winklerize):
 
 
 def damerau_levenshtein_distance(s1, s2):
-    if isinstance(s1, bytes) or isinstance(s2, bytes):
-        raise TypeError(_no_bytes_err)
+    _check_type(s1)
+    _check_type(s2)
 
     len1 = len(s1)
     len2 = len(s2)
@@ -157,8 +163,8 @@ def jaro_winkler(s1, s2, long_tolerance=False):
 def soundex(s):
     if not s:
         return s
-    if isinstance(s, bytes):
-        raise TypeError(_no_bytes_err)
+
+    _check_type(s)
 
     s = _normalize(s)
 
@@ -197,8 +203,8 @@ def soundex(s):
 
 
 def hamming_distance(s1, s2):
-    if isinstance(s1, bytes) or isinstance(s2, bytes):
-        raise TypeError(_no_bytes_err)
+    _check_type(s1)
+    _check_type(s2)
 
     # ensure length of s1 >= s2
     if len(s2) > len(s1):
@@ -214,8 +220,8 @@ def hamming_distance(s1, s2):
 
 
 def nysiis(s):
-    if isinstance(s, bytes):
-        raise TypeError(_no_bytes_err)
+    _check_type(s)
+
     if not s:
         return ''
 
@@ -303,8 +309,8 @@ def nysiis(s):
 
 
 def match_rating_codex(s):
-    if isinstance(s, bytes):
-        raise TypeError(_no_bytes_err)
+    _check_type(s)
+    
     s = s.upper()
     codex = []
 
@@ -368,8 +374,7 @@ def match_rating_comparison(s1, s2):
 
 
 def metaphone(s):
-    if isinstance(s, bytes):
-        raise TypeError(_no_bytes_err)
+    _check_type(s)
 
     result = []
 
@@ -483,6 +488,6 @@ def metaphone(s):
 
 
 def porter_stem(s):
-    if isinstance(s, bytes):
-        raise TypeError(_no_bytes_err)
+    _check_type(s)
+
     return Stemmer(s).stem()
diff --git a/jellyfish/compat.py b/jellyfish/compat.py
index b5e0979..180283d 100644
--- a/jellyfish/compat.py
+++ b/jellyfish/compat.py
@@ -6,8 +6,6 @@ IS_PY3 = sys.version_info[0] == 3
 if IS_PY3:
     _range = range
     _zip_longest = itertools.zip_longest
-    _no_bytes_err = 'expected str, got bytes'
 else:
     _range = xrange
     _zip_longest = itertools.izip_longest
-    _no_bytes_err = 'expected unicode, got str'