diff --git a/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel-tangle.el b/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel-tangle.el
index 64afef800..5dfbb94d6 100644
--- a/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel-tangle.el
+++ b/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel-tangle.el
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ exported source code blocks by language."
                 (lang-specs (cdr (assoc lang org-babel-tangle-langs)))
                 (ext (first lang-specs))
                 (she-bang (second lang-specs))
-                (commentable (not (third lang-specs)))
+                (commentable (and (fboundp lang-f) (not (third lang-specs))))
                 she-banged)
            (mapc
             (lambda (spec)
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ exported source code blocks by language."
                       (delete-file file-name))
                     ;; drop source-block to file
                     (with-temp-buffer
-                      (funcall lang-f)
+                      (if (fboundp lang-f) (funcall lang-f))
                       (when (and she-bang (not (member file-name she-banged)))
                         (insert (concat she-bang "\n"))
                         (setq she-banged (cons file-name she-banged)))
diff --git a/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel.el b/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel.el
index 43a6d0864..d609dca38 100644
--- a/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel.el
+++ b/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel.el
@@ -991,10 +991,6 @@ block but are passed literally to the \"example-block\"."
                    (setq new-body (concat new-body text))))
       (with-temp-buffer
         (insert body) (goto-char (point-min))
-        (funcall (intern (concat (or (and (cdr (assoc lang org-src-lang-modes))
-                                          (symbol-name
-                                           (cdr (assoc lang org-src-lang-modes))))
-                                     lang) "-mode")))
         (setq index (point))
         (while (and (re-search-forward "<<\\(.+?\\)>>" nil t))
           (save-match-data (setf source-name (match-string 1)))