diff --git a/src/CutAndPaste.cpp b/src/CutAndPaste.cpp
index 1d4299ad6c..e27de0d18b 100644
--- a/src/CutAndPaste.cpp
+++ b/src/CutAndPaste.cpp
@@ -1239,13 +1239,13 @@ bool pasteClipboardText(Cursor & cur, ErrorList & errorList, bool asParagraphs,
 				Buffer buffer("", false);
 				buffer.setUnnamed(true);
 				available = buffer.importString(names[i], text, errorList);
-				// TeX2lyx (also used in the HTML chain) assumes English as document language
-				// if no language is explicitly set (as is the case here).
-				// We thus reset the temp buffer's language to the context language
-				buffer.changeLanguage(buffer.language(), cur.getFont().language());
 				if (available)
 					available = !buffer.paragraphs().empty();
 				if (available && !buffer.paragraphs()[0].empty()) {
+					// TeX2lyx (also used in the HTML chain) assumes English as document language
+					// if no language is explicitly set (as is the case here).
+					// We thus reset the temp buffer's language to the context language
+					buffer.changeLanguage(buffer.language(), cur.getFont().language());
 					cur.recordUndo();
 					pasteParagraphList(cur, buffer.paragraphs(),
 						buffer.params().documentClassPtr(), errorList);