diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/documentview.py b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/documentview.py
index 13469f5622..55abae0392 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/documentview.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/documentview.py
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ class Document(QWebPage): # {{{
 
     @pyqtSignature("")
     def init_hyphenate(self):
-        if self.hyphenate:
+        if self.hyphenate and getattr(self, 'loaded_lang', ''):
             self.javascript('do_hyphenation("%s")'%self.loaded_lang)
 
     def after_load(self):