diff --git a/moo/mooedit/moolangmgr.c b/moo/mooedit/moolangmgr.c
index d87a8445..062835f9 100644
--- a/moo/mooedit/moolangmgr.c
+++ b/moo/mooedit/moolangmgr.c
@@ -161,6 +161,9 @@ moo_lang_mgr_get_lang (MooLangMgr *mgr,
     id = _moo_lang_id_from_name (name);
     lang = g_hash_table_lookup (mgr->langs, id);
 
+    if (!lang)
+        g_warning ("could not find language '%s'", name);
+
     g_free (id);
     return lang;
 }