diff --git a/src/config.in b/src/config.in
index e986344ec24..17162ca37e0 100644
--- a/src/config.in
+++ b/src/config.in
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.  */
 #ifdef emacs /* Don't do this for lib-src.  */
 /* Tell regex.c to use a type compatible with Emacs.  */
 #define RE_TRANSLATE_TYPE Lisp_Object
-#define RE_TRANSLATE(TBL, C) XINT (Faref (TBL, make_number (C)))
+#define RE_TRANSLATE(TBL, C) char_table_translate (TBL, C)
 #endif
 
 /* Avoid link-time collision with system mktime if we will use our own.  */