diff --git a/src/tex2lyx/Preamble.h b/src/tex2lyx/Preamble.h
index 9b15a3fea0..8372fcb33c 100644
--- a/src/tex2lyx/Preamble.h
+++ b/src/tex2lyx/Preamble.h
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ public:
 	///
 	std::string notefontcolor() const { return h_notefontcolor; }
 	///
+	std::string language() const { return h_language; }
+	///
 	std::string use_indices() const { return h_use_indices; }
 	///
 	bool indentParagraphs() const;
diff --git a/src/tex2lyx/tex2lyx.cpp b/src/tex2lyx/tex2lyx.cpp
index 5b91e1842d..3acc0e7a22 100644
--- a/src/tex2lyx/tex2lyx.cpp
+++ b/src/tex2lyx/tex2lyx.cpp
@@ -681,6 +681,10 @@ bool tex2lyx(idocstream & is, ostream & os, string encoding)
 	active_environments.push_back("document");
 	Context context(true, textclass);
 	stringstream ss;
+	// store the document language in the context to be able to handle the
+	// commands like \foreignlanguage and \textenglish etc.
+	context.font.language = preamble.language();
+	// parse the main text
 	parse_text(p, ss, FLAG_END, true, context);
 	if (Context::empty)
 		// Empty document body. LyX needs at least one paragraph.
diff --git a/status.20x b/status.20x
index 4ce7367d02..0742baa56f 100644
--- a/status.20x
+++ b/status.20x
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ What's new
 
 * TEX2LYX
 
+- Fix bug that language change was not recognized (bug 8210).
 
 
 * ADVANCED FIND AND REPLACE