diff --git a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/Tokenizer.java b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/Tokenizer.java
index 461aaf95198..632cf4721b7 100644
--- a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/Tokenizer.java
+++ b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/standard/Tokenizer.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelParseException;
  * @author Andy Clement
  * @author Juergen Hoeller
  * @author Phillip Webb
+ * @author Sam Brannen
  * @since 3.0
  */
 class Tokenizer {
@@ -44,8 +45,6 @@ class Tokenizer {
 
 	private static final byte IS_HEXDIGIT = 0x02;
 
-	private static final byte IS_ALPHA = 0x04;
-
 	static {
 		for (int ch = '0'; ch <= '9'; ch++) {
 			FLAGS[ch] |= IS_DIGIT | IS_HEXDIGIT;
@@ -56,12 +55,6 @@ class Tokenizer {
 		for (int ch = 'a'; ch <= 'f'; ch++) {
 			FLAGS[ch] |= IS_HEXDIGIT;
 		}
-		for (int ch = 'A'; ch <= 'Z'; ch++) {
-			FLAGS[ch] |= IS_ALPHA;
-		}
-		for (int ch = 'a'; ch <= 'z'; ch++) {
-			FLAGS[ch] |= IS_ALPHA;
-		}
 	}
 
 
@@ -569,10 +562,7 @@ class Tokenizer {
 	}
 
 	private boolean isAlphabetic(char ch) {
-		if (ch > 255) {
-			return false;
-		}
-		return (FLAGS[ch] & IS_ALPHA) != 0;
+		return Character.isLetter(ch);
 	}
 
 	private boolean isHexadecimalDigit(char ch) {
diff --git a/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ParsingTests.java b/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ParsingTests.java
index 03e6b72dabe..621a6e9e5f5 100644
--- a/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ParsingTests.java
+++ b/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ParsingTests.java
@@ -67,6 +67,20 @@ class ParsingTests {
 			parseCheck("person_1.Age");
 			parseCheck("person_1.__age");
 			parseCheck("Person_1.get__age()");
+
+			// German characters
+			parseCheck("begrüssung");
+			parseCheck("#begrüssung");
+			parseCheck("begrüssung[1]", "begrüssung.[1]"); // extra "." is needed due to erroneous logic in CompoundExpression.toStringAST()
+			parseCheck("service.begrüssung");
+			parseCheck("service.getBegrüssung()");
+			parseCheck("Spaß");
+
+			// Spanish characters
+			parseCheck("buenos_sueños");
+
+			// Chinese characters
+			parseCheck("have乐趣()");
 		}
 
 		@Test
@@ -75,24 +89,6 @@ class ParsingTests {
 			assertThatIllegalStateException()
 					.isThrownBy(() -> parser.parseRaw("apple~banana"))
 					.withMessage("Unsupported character '~' (126) encountered at position 6 in expression.");
-
-			// German characters
-			assertThatIllegalStateException()
-					.isThrownBy(() -> parser.parseRaw("begrüssung"))
-					.withMessage("Unsupported character 'ü' (252) encountered at position 5 in expression.");
-			assertThatIllegalStateException()
-					.isThrownBy(() -> parser.parseRaw("Spaß"))
-					.withMessage("Unsupported character 'ß' (223) encountered at position 4 in expression.");
-
-			// Spanish characters
-			assertThatIllegalStateException()
-					.isThrownBy(() -> parser.parseRaw("buenos_sueños"))
-					.withMessage("Unsupported character 'ñ' (241) encountered at position 11 in expression.");
-
-			// Chinese characters
-			assertThatIllegalStateException()
-					.isThrownBy(() -> parser.parseRaw("have乐趣()"))
-					.withMessage("Unsupported character '乐' (20048) encountered at position 5 in expression.");
 		}
 
 		@Test