diff --git a/model2vec/distill/distillation.py b/model2vec/distill/distillation.py
index 8c4ed40..5025f3f 100644
--- a/model2vec/distill/distillation.py
+++ b/model2vec/distill/distillation.py
@@ -13,18 +13,10 @@
 
 from model2vec.distill.inference import create_embeddings
 from model2vec.distill.tokenizer import replace_vocabulary
-from model2vec.distill.utils import Token, select_optimal_device
+from model2vec.distill.utils import select_optimal_device
 from model2vec.model import StaticModel
 from model2vec.quantization import DType, quantize_embeddings
 
-try:
-    # For huggingface_hub>=0.25.0
-    from huggingface_hub.errors import RepositoryNotFoundError
-except ImportError:
-    # For huggingface_hub<0.25.0
-    from huggingface_hub.utils._errors import RepositoryNotFoundError
-
-
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -137,8 +129,9 @@ def distill_from_model(
         try:
             info = model_info(model_name)
             language = info.cardData.get("language", None)
-        except RepositoryNotFoundError:
-            logger.info("No model info found for the model. Setting language to None.")
+        except Exception as e:
+            # NOTE: bare except because there's many reasons this can fail.
+            logger.warning(f"Couldn't get the model info from the Hugging Face Hub: {e}. Setting language to None.")
             language = None
 
     return StaticModel(
diff --git a/model2vec/hf_utils.py b/model2vec/hf_utils.py
index 1d12f43..59c451c 100644
--- a/model2vec/hf_utils.py
+++ b/model2vec/hf_utils.py
@@ -158,8 +158,9 @@ def load_pretrained(
                 )
             )
             metadata = _get_metadata_from_readme(Path(readme_path))
-        except huggingface_hub.utils.EntryNotFoundError:
-            logger.info("No README found in the model folder. No model card loaded.")
+        except Exception as e:
+            # NOTE: we don't want to raise an error here, since the README is optional.
+            logger.info(f"No README found in the model folder: {e} No model card loaded.")
             metadata = {}
 
         config_path = Path(