diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index 22e51a7f..58739755 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -194,7 +194,6 @@ jobs:
           choco install --yes --no-progress tesseract
           choco install --yes --no-progress --ignore-checksums ghostscript --version 9.56.1
           choco install --yes --no-progress poppler --version=25.11.0
-          choco install --yes --no-progress noto
 
       - name: Install Python packages
         run: |
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_validation.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_validation.py
index b1d0ecdb..e28b1a2c 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_validation.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_validation.py
@@ -49,6 +49,17 @@ def check_platform() -> None:
 def check_options_languages(
     options: OcrOptions, ocr_engine_languages: list[str]
 ) -> None:
+    # Check for blocked languages first, before checking if they're installed
+    DENIED_LANGUAGES = {'equ', 'osd'}
+    blocked = DENIED_LANGUAGES & set(options.languages)
+    if blocked:
+        raise BadArgsError(
+            "The following languages are for Tesseract's internal use and "
+            "should not be issued explicitly: "
+            f"{', '.join(blocked)}\n"
+            "Remove them from the -l/--language argument."
+        )
+
     if not ocr_engine_languages:
         return
 
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_validation_coordinator.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_validation_coordinator.py
index d208fcd4..d5440475 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_validation_coordinator.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_validation_coordinator.py
@@ -72,17 +72,9 @@ class ValidationCoordinator:
                 "--tesseract-downsample-large-images is also given."
             )
 
-        # Check for blocked languages
-        from ocrmypdf.exceptions import BadArgsError
-
-        DENIED_LANGUAGES = {'equ', 'osd'}
-        if DENIED_LANGUAGES & set(options.languages):
-            raise BadArgsError(
-                "The following languages are for Tesseract's internal use and "
-                "should not be issued explicitly: "
-                f"{', '.join(DENIED_LANGUAGES & set(options.languages))}\n"
-                "Remove them from the -l/--language argument."
-            )
+        # Note: blocked languages (equ, osd) are checked earlier in
+        # check_options_languages() to ensure the check runs before
+        # the missing language check.
 
     def _validate_optimize_options(self, options: OcrOptions) -> None:
         """Validate optimization options."""
diff --git a/tests/test_multilingual_direct.py b/tests/test_multilingual_direct.py
index e1d76429..c0105e34 100644
--- a/tests/test_multilingual_direct.py
+++ b/tests/test_multilingual_direct.py
@@ -208,6 +208,21 @@ class TestArabicScript:
 # =============================================================================
 
 
+def _latin_font_works(multi_font_manager) -> bool:
+    """Check if Latin font is available."""
+    return multi_font_manager.has_all_glyphs('NotoSans-Regular', 'A')
+
+
+def _arabic_font_works(multi_font_manager) -> bool:
+    """Check if Arabic font is available."""
+    return multi_font_manager.has_all_glyphs('NotoSansArabic-Regular', 'م')
+
+
+def _devanagari_font_works(multi_font_manager) -> bool:
+    """Check if Devanagari font is available."""
+    return multi_font_manager.has_all_glyphs('NotoSansDevanagari-Regular', 'न')
+
+
 def _cjk_font_works(multi_font_manager) -> bool:
     """Check if CJK font is working (not corrupted)."""
     return multi_font_manager.has_all_glyphs('NotoSansCJK-Regular', '你')
@@ -515,6 +530,9 @@ class TestFontCoverage:
 
     def test_noto_sans_latin_coverage(self, multi_font_manager):
         """Test NotoSans covers common Latin characters and diacritics."""
+        if not _latin_font_works(multi_font_manager):
+            pytest.skip("NotoSans font not available")
+
         latin_samples = [
             "Hello World",
             "Café résumé naïve",
@@ -530,6 +548,9 @@ class TestFontCoverage:
 
     def test_noto_sans_arabic_coverage(self, multi_font_manager):
         """Test NotoSansArabic covers Arabic characters."""
+        if not _arabic_font_works(multi_font_manager):
+            pytest.skip("NotoSansArabic font not available")
+
         arabic_samples = [
             "مرحبا",  # Hello
             "بالعالم",  # World
@@ -543,6 +564,9 @@ class TestFontCoverage:
 
     def test_noto_sans_devanagari_coverage(self, multi_font_manager):
         """Test NotoSansDevanagari covers Devanagari characters."""
+        if not _devanagari_font_works(multi_font_manager):
+            pytest.skip("NotoSansDevanagari font not available")
+
         devanagari_samples = [
             "नमस्ते",  # Hello
             "हिंदी",  # Hindi