diff --git a/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/translation/translate_firefox.js b/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/translation/translate_firefox.js
index 835b3b100..392238ba8 100644
--- a/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/translation/translate_firefox.js
+++ b/chrome/content/zotero/xpcom/translation/translate_firefox.js
@@ -332,10 +332,22 @@ Zotero.Translate.IO.Read = function(file, mode) {
 					// if the regexp continues to fail, this is not UTF-8
 					if(!isUTF8) {
 						// Can't be UTF-8; see if a default charset is defined
-						this._charset = Zotero.Prefs.get("intl.charset.default", true);
+						var prefs = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/preferences-service;1"]
+										.getService(Components.interfaces.nsIPrefBranch);
+						try {
+							this._charset = prefs.getComplexValue("intl.charset.default",
+								Components.interfaces.nsIPrefLocalizedString).toString();
+						} catch(e) {}
 						
-						// ISO-8859-1 by default
-						if(!this._charset) this._charset = "ISO-8859-1";
+						if(!this._charset) {
+							try {
+								this._charset = prefs.getCharPref("intl.charset.default");
+							} catch(e) {}
+							
+							
+							// ISO-8859-1 by default
+							if(!this._charset) this._charset = "ISO-8859-1";
+						}
 						
 						break;
 					}