diff --git a/MANUAL.txt b/MANUAL.txt
index 3dda9d6ba..658b25c3e 100644
--- a/MANUAL.txt
+++ b/MANUAL.txt
@@ -3043,6 +3043,13 @@ Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF] with a LaTeX engine.
 `csquotesoptions`
 :   options to use for `csquotes` package (repeat for multiple options).
 
+`babeloptions`
+:   options to pass to the babel package (may be repeated for
+    multiple options). This defaults to `provide=*` if the main
+    language isn't a European language written with Latin or
+    Cyrillic script or Vietnamese. Most users will not need to
+    adjust the default setting.
+
 #### Fonts
 
 `fontenc`
diff --git a/data/templates/common.latex b/data/templates/common.latex
index d2e7f841f..3f93b1b88 100644
--- a/data/templates/common.latex
+++ b/data/templates/common.latex
@@ -183,12 +183,11 @@ $-- Babel language support
 $--
 $if(lang)$
 \ifLuaTeX
-\usepackage[bidi=basic]{babel}
+\usepackage[bidi=basic$for(babeloptions)$,$babeloptions$$endfor$]{babel}
 \else
-\usepackage[bidi=default]{babel}
+\usepackage[bidi=default$for(babeloptions)$,$babeloptions$$endfor$]{babel}
 \fi
 $if(babel-lang)$
-\babelprovide[main,import]{$babel-lang$}
 $if(mainfont)$
 \ifPDFTeX
 \else
@@ -196,9 +195,6 @@ $if(mainfont)$
 \fi
 $endif$
 $endif$
-$for(babel-otherlangs)$
-\babelprovide[import]{$babel-otherlangs$}
-$endfor$
 $for(babelfonts/pairs)$
 \babelfont[$babelfonts.key$]{rm}{$babelfonts.value$}
 $endfor$
diff --git a/data/templates/default.latex b/data/templates/default.latex
index b7858dedc..781133776 100644
--- a/data/templates/default.latex
+++ b/data/templates/default.latex
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 $passoptions.latex()$
 \documentclass[
+$for(babel-otherlangs)$
+  $babel-otherlangs$,
+$endfor$
+$if(babel-lang)$
+  $babel-lang$,
+$endif$
 $if(fontsize)$
   $fontsize$,
 $endif$
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/LaTeX.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/LaTeX.hs
index 77d40c3e7..93601a72e 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/LaTeX.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/LaTeX.hs
@@ -265,9 +265,15 @@ pandocToLaTeX options (Pandoc meta blocks) = do
                       (literal $ renderLang l)) mblang
         $ maybe id (\l -> defField "babel-lang"
                       (literal l)) babelLang
+        $ (case babelLang of -- see #8283
+                Just l | l `notElem` ldfLanguages
+                         -> defField "babeloptions" ("provide=*" :: Text)
+                _ -> id)
         $ defField "babel-otherlangs"
              (map literal
-               (nubOrd . catMaybes . filter (/= babelLang)
+               (filter (`elem` ldfLanguages) .
+                nubOrd . catMaybes .
+                filter (/= babelLang)
                 $ map toBabel docLangs))
         $ defField "selnolig-langs"
              (literal . T.intercalate "," $
@@ -1187,3 +1193,96 @@ inSoulCommand pa = do
   result <- pa
   modify $ \st -> st{ stInSoulCommand = oldInSoulCommand }
   pure result
+
+-- Babel languages with a .ldf that works well with all engines (see #8283).
+-- We follow the guidance from the Babel documentation:
+-- "In general, you should do this for European languages written in Latin
+-- and Cyrillic scripts, as well as for Vietnamese."
+ldfLanguages :: [Text]
+ldfLanguages =
+  [ "magyar"
+  , "croatian"
+  , "ngerman"
+  , "germanb"
+  , "german"
+  , "austrian"
+  , "ngermanb"
+  , "naustrian"
+  , "nswissgerman"
+  , "swissgerman"
+  , "italian"
+  , "greek"
+  , "azerbaijani"
+  , "american"
+  , "newzealand"
+  , "UKenglish"
+  , "USenglish"
+  , "australian"
+  , "british"
+  , "canadian"
+  , "english"
+  , "bahasa"
+  , "slovak"
+  , "finnish"
+  , "occitan"
+  , "swedish"
+  , "brazil"
+  , "portuguese"
+  , "portuges"
+  , "brazilian"
+  , "spanish"
+  , "norwegian"
+  , "norsk"
+  , "nynorsk"
+  , "bulgarian"
+  , "breton"
+  , "belarusian"
+  , "piedmontese"
+  , "esperanto"
+  , "lithuanian"
+  , "ukraineb"
+  , "scottishgaelic"
+  , "scottish"
+  , "dutch"
+  , "afrikaans"
+  , "czech"
+  , "serbian"
+  , "latvian"
+  , "catalan"
+  , "basque"
+  , "albanian"
+  , "irish"
+  , "serbianc"
+  , "interlingua"
+  , "bosnian"
+  , "friulan"
+  , "romanian"
+  , "icelandic"
+  , "classiclatin"
+  , "ecclesiasticlatin"
+  , "medievallatin"
+  , "latin"
+  , "georgian"
+  , "macedonian"
+  , "welsh"
+  , "vietnamese"
+  , "romansh"
+  , "danish"
+  , "lsorbian"
+  , "usorbian"
+  , "polish-compat"
+  , "polish"
+  , "estonian"
+  , "french"
+  , "frenchb"
+  , "canadien"
+  , "acadian"
+  , "francais"
+  , "turkish"
+  , "hindi"
+  , "northernsami"
+  , "samin"
+  , "russianb"
+  , "galician"
+  , "slovene"
+  ]
diff --git a/test/command/9472.md b/test/command/9472.md
index fd6f1d3e2..d809d06ce 100644
--- a/test/command/9472.md
+++ b/test/command/9472.md
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ More text in English. ['Zitat auf Deutsch.']{lang=de}
 \PassOptionsToPackage{unicode}{hyperref}
 \PassOptionsToPackage{hyphens}{url}
 \documentclass[
+  french,
+  ngerman,
 ]{article}
 \usepackage{xcolor}
 \usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
@@ -51,8 +53,6 @@ More text in English. ['Zitat auf Deutsch.']{lang=de}
 \else
 \usepackage[bidi=default]{babel}
 \fi
-\babelprovide[main,import]{ngerman}
-\babelprovide[import]{french}
 % get rid of language-specific shorthands (see #6817):
 \let\LanguageShortHands\languageshorthands
 \def\languageshorthands#1{}
diff --git a/test/writers-lang-and-dir.latex b/test/writers-lang-and-dir.latex
index 4f2269a60..e25bc74e6 100644
--- a/test/writers-lang-and-dir.latex
+++ b/test/writers-lang-and-dir.latex
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 \PassOptionsToPackage{unicode}{hyperref}
 \PassOptionsToPackage{hyphens}{url}
 \documentclass[
+  ngerman,
+  british,
+  nswissgerman,
+  spanish,
+  french,
+  english,
 ]{article}
 \usepackage{xcolor}
 \usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
@@ -41,12 +47,6 @@
 \else
 \usepackage[bidi=default]{babel}
 \fi
-\babelprovide[main,import]{english}
-\babelprovide[import]{ngerman}
-\babelprovide[import]{british}
-\babelprovide[import]{nswissgerman}
-\babelprovide[import]{spanish}
-\babelprovide[import]{french}
 % get rid of language-specific shorthands (see #6817):
 \let\LanguageShortHands\languageshorthands
 \def\languageshorthands#1{}