old_contents: import goslate
  import asyncio
  
  gs = goslate.Goslate()
  
  def _initialise(command):
      command.register_handler(_handle_message)
  
  @asyncio.coroutine
  def _handle_message(bot, event, command):
      language_map = gs.get_languages()
      raw_text = event.text.lower()
      translate_target = None
  
      for iso_language in language_map:
          text_language = language_map[iso_language].lower()
  
          language_marker = "/" + text_language
          if raw_text.endswith(language_marker):
              raw_text = raw_text.replace(language_marker, "").strip()
              translate_target = [iso_language, text_language]
  
      if translate_target is not None:
          yield from _translate(bot, event, raw_text, translate_target[0], translate_target[1])
  
  @asyncio.coroutine
  def _translate(bot, event, text, iso_language, text_language):
      print('TRANSLATE: "{}" to {}'.format(text, iso_language))
      translated = gs.translate(text, iso_language)
      bot.send_message_parsed(event.conv, "<i>" + text_language + "</i> : " + translated)
  
new_contents: import goslate
  import asyncio
  
  gs = goslate.Goslate()
  
  def _initialise(command):
      command.register_handler(_handle_message)
  
  @asyncio.coroutine
  def _handle_message(bot, event, command):
      language_map = gs.get_languages()
      raw_text = event.text.lower()
      raw_text = ' '.join(raw_text.split())
      translate_target = None
  
      for iso_language in language_map:
          text_language = language_map[iso_language].lower()
  
          language_marker = " /" + text_language
          if raw_text.endswith(language_marker):
              raw_text = raw_text.replace(language_marker, "").strip()
              translate_target = [iso_language, text_language]
  
      if translate_target is not None:
          yield from _translate(bot, event, raw_text, translate_target[0], translate_target[1])
  
  @asyncio.coroutine
  def _translate(bot, event, text, iso_language, text_language):
      print('TRANSLATE: "{}" to {}'.format(text, iso_language))
      translated = gs.translate(text, iso_language)
      bot.send_message_parsed(event.conv, "<i>" + text_language + "</i> : " + translated)
  
subject: convert multiple spaces to single space, apparently resolves the translate issue