Re: Canadian French Translation

[RAHEL A BAILIE <rbailie -at- NEWBRIDGE -dot- COM>]

> David said:
>
> > According to my tech writing partner here, who is also qualified as a
> > translator, you should mention to the translation house that you intend to
> > send copies to France and Quebec. That way, the translator can translate
> > it
> > once for France and then modify it slightly for Quebec (certain terms need
> > to be localized).
>
> Pierre replied:
>
> I mosly agree with David's partner.  A few words here and there would need
> to be changed just like the Bitish and US english I guess.  Keep in mind
> that Quebecers more often hear France french than the opposite.  We
> understand them better than they understand us.  So, I would have the Quebec
> localization modification done in Quebec.  French people (from France) don't
> know our commonly used expressions.

I would ask:

What will be the target sales for Quebec and for France? Does it make sense to
produce separate print runs for these markets? Will the political fall-out
(remembering that 7 years ago, the language issue was quite touchy; on the other
hand, we were so used to really bad translations circulating that nothing fazed
us if we really wanted a product) become an economic one, in other words, will
it warrant the extra costs of a separate print run for that market, even if the
numbers are small? Will the documentation be delivered electronically, which
means you still pay for translation but save the additional print costs?

These are probably things you'd want to talk over with your marketing people.

Rahel Bailie
Vancouver, BC, Canada

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