diff --git a/python-argh.spec b/python-argh.spec
index 39bc228..d150ce3 100644
--- a/python-argh.spec
+++ b/python-argh.spec
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ BuildRequires:	python3-setuptools
 %check
 # tests need UTF-8 encoding
 LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
-LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
+LC_CTYPE=C.utf8
 export LANG LC_CTYPE
 %{__python2} setup.py test
 %if %{with python3}