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Use this setup to typeset documents in french with stable language rules and typography.

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pdfLaTeX Setup

pdflatex-french.tex
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[french]{babel}

\begin{document}
\selectlanguage{french}
Ceci est un document scientifique en francais.
\end{document}

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XeLaTeX / LuaLaTeX Setup

xelatex-french.tex
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setdefaultlanguage{french}
\setmainfont{TeX Gyre Termes}

\begin{document}
\selectlanguage{french}
Ceci est un document scientifique en francais.
\end{document}

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Practical Notes

  • Keep one compiler across the entire project.
  • Verify fonts are available in local or cloud environments.
  • For multilingual bibliographies, use Unicode-safe workflows.