\babelfont doesn't work

Question

I am trying to typeset a document with multiple languages, and I need to use a different font for one of the languages because of the lack of boldface for said language in the global font.

I tried to do the following

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T2A,T1]{fontenc} 
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[serbianc,french,english]{babel}
\babelfont{rm}{Linguistics Pro}
\babelfont[Language=serbian]{tt}{FreeSerif}
\begin{document}
\Serbianc{Hello, \texttt\Huge{Поздрав}!}
\end{document}

However, i get an "undefined control sequence" error. I have tried to run the example from the babel documentation, Section 1.14, and I still received the same error. I have no idea what is going on.

Is there a way to either load \babelfont, or to do the thing that I need in any other way?

\babelfont[serbianc]{tt}{FreeSerif} Don't load fontenc nor inputenc. — egreg, Mar 08 '22 at 21:48
I assume you're using pdfLaTeX, you need LuaLaTex or XeLaTeX as your compiler for it to work. — eliasf, Mar 08 '22 at 22:38
You should load a \babelfont{tt} before \babelfont[serbian]{tt}. — Davislor, Mar 09 '22 at 06:25
@eliasf Indeed I am using pdfLaTeX. Is it possible to do this without passing to a different compiler? I have a huge document which cannot be compiled with LuaLaTeX or XeLaTeX. — Kolja, Mar 09 '22 at 10:35
@Kolja Your \babelfont instruction is wrong: it should be \babelfont[serbianc]{tt}{FreeSerif}. — egreg, Mar 09 '22 at 10:47
@egreg I also tried \babelfont[serbianc]{tt}{FreeSerif}, and it gave me the same error -- the \babelfont command is undefined. — Kolja, Mar 09 '22 at 11:00
\texttt\Huge{Поздрав} is the same as \texttt{\Huge}{Поздрав}. You might want to use \texttt{\Huge{Поздрав}} — cgnieder, Mar 09 '22 at 11:05
@cgnieder I used many combinations. But even just \texttt{Поздрав} doesn't work. — Kolja, Mar 09 '22 at 11:07

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 09 '22 at 11:29

This works with the last version of babel (2022/02/26 3.73)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[serbianc,french,english]{babel}
\babelfont{rm}{Linguistics Pro}
\babelfont[serbianc]{tt}{FreeSerif}
\begin{document}
\Serbianc{Hello, \texttt{\Huge Поздрав}!}
\end{document}

Note that \texttt\Huge does nothing at all.

eliasf · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-09T14:03:39.800

As I had the same issue recently where I was unable to change compiler from pdfLaTeX I did the following for Greek text:

\usepackage[greek,english]{babel}
\usepackage[LGR,T1]{fontenc}
% This is my main font
\usepackage{mlmodern}
% Switch back to Computer Modern for Greek
\usepackage{substitutefont}
\substitutefont{LGR}{\rmdefault}{cmr}

For Serbian you would need to find a T2A compatible font that would let you make it bold and not an OpenType as this won't work with pdfLaTeX.

EDIT

The following MWE produces what you want I think:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T2A,T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[serbianc,english]{babel}
\usepackage{substitutefont}
\substitutefont{T2A}{\ttdefault}{iwona}
\begin{document}
\Serbianc{Hello, \texttt{\Huge\textbf{Поздрав!}}}
\end{document}

The key lies in using a font supporting T2A encoding (here iwona is used), have a look at this:

What fonts are compatible with T2A (Cyrillic) encoding?

What is \rmdefault? I am trying to apply the same fix to my code, but I have problems. It keeps using T1 for serbian instead of T2A, and I get "command ... unavailable in T1" Also \serbianc is an undefined control sequence, but this is a command from the babel serbianc package. And everything is recompiled in a different font now, serbian is even used where it shouldn't be (outside of serbian chapter). — Kolja, Mar 09 '22 at 11:24

\babelfont doesn't work

2 Answers2