Hyphenation exceptions not loaded when using babel with multiple languages

Question

When I use babel with more than one language loaded, my hyphenation exceptions are not used. Here is an example:

====== hy.tex =======

\hyphenation{para-dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane}

====== test.tex ======

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[english,french]{babel}
\selectlanguage{english}
\input{hy}

\begin{document}
paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane 
\end{document}

My hyphenation exception is not respected. If I remove \selectlanguage, however, the hyphenation exception works.

Thanks for accepting my answer, but please also upvote it (by clicking on the upward-pointing pen nib; upvoting has to be done separately from accepting an answer). — lockstep, Jul 26 '12 at 16:54

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

\hyphenation commands refer to the current language, and babel switches to French at the start of your document body. Your example works as intended by switching to English and loading hy.tex after \begin{document}.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[english,french]{babel}

\usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{hy.tex}
\hyphenation{para-dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane}
\end{filecontents}

\begin{document}

\selectlanguage{english}
\input{hy}

\languagename

paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane paradichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane 
\end{document}

enter image description here

Also, have a look at Specifying multiple hyphenation exception lists for multi-lingual documents.

Hyphenation exceptions not loaded when using babel with multiple languages

1 Answers1