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Subject:Re: Canadian French Translation From:Josee mariann Proulx <jmproulx -at- EMS -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 20 Jul 1999 16:00:59 -0400
Localize as a courtesy, not as a necessity. In other words, ignore the
differences found in Quebec French and encourage French chauvinism (I don't
mean Belgian or Swiss attitudes here) by making only one version. What you
really mean is: if you have time to waste, localize for Quebec. If not, it
does not really matter, does it?
By the way, stop signs here say ARRET and not "arrete" which is said when
you command to someone to stop....
You know, that kind of discussion would not take place if we were talking
about US American vs British English. Any foreign company would seriously
think twice before sending a manual written in British English to US
customers. You could always do it, but you would be seen as "foreign" and
not in tune with the market you claim to be a part of with your products.
Why not have the same kind of consideration for Quebecers when it comes to
French?
We have the same thing happening in the dubbing industry. French dubbing
specialists sign deals with Hollywood to do the narration for most movies.
The result is pathetic. They use Parisian French to dub Woopy Goldberg and,
as a result, she sounds stupid because she is using local Parisian
expressions. Try watching South Park in French or King of the Hill...What a
disaster. Quebec dubbing specialists cannot localize movies because the
French have threaten several times to start a commercial war if Americans
would give Quebecers the right to do French dubbing too.
By letting them do localisation for all French markets or by adopting their
French only, you are not recognizing the innate linguistic differences
found in French-speaking markets, just like in English-speaking markets
(US, British, Canadian, and Australian/New Zealand). Should Quebec have
reached a critical mass of speakers, this debate would sound ridiculous
now.
It seems that you came back from France not only with the knowledge of a
new language, but also with the cultural contempt stemming from it...
Josee Mariann Proulx
Technical Writer
Development Department
Exchange Market Systems E.M.S.
4200 St.Laurent Blvd, suite 1100
Montreal, Quebec
H2W 2R2
"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is
writing a book." -Cicero
-----Original Message-----
From: H.Durstling [SMTP:sinico -at- NBNET -dot- NB -dot- CA]
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 1999 3:32 PM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: Canadian French Translation
>Perhaps one of our Canadian colleagues can help me out here.
>
>My company wants to translate some docs for our customers in Quebec. Would
>having them translated into European French be OK or would localization
into
>Canadian French be more appropriate? The docs are system
administrator-type
>guides and user manuals for financial tracking software. We eventually
plan
>on marketing in France, so I was hoping one translation could serve both
>markets.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Robert Frick
>Sr. Information Architect
>Paylinx Corporation
>(314) 692-0929 ext. 7194
>
>rfrick -at- paylinx -dot- com
==================
Hi Robert -
A tricky issue indeed, involving lingusitic sensibilities, pride, and a
somewhat prickly province. In France the stop signs say "stop", but in
Quebec, arrete. It's a kind of linguistic political correctness, a mix of
defensiveness and also deference. For when I came back from France quite a
few years ago to work in Montreal, more than one person said of my
(european) French, "oh, quel bel accent." So these things still count, as
they used to, also, in English Canada when we were still intimidated and
impressed by the sound of Oxford English which we took as a sign of culture
and sophistication. Now we're more inclined to simply think "snot". But if
you can take the anecdotal evidence of the "oh quel bel accent" comments as
indicative, it suggests that you'll likely have smooth sailing with just
good correct european French. But do keep that under your hat. Don't ever
let on you made a conscious decision _not_ to bother with localizing.
That's when the sensibilities get really jangled. However if you do decide
to localize it should be a fairly minor operation; not that many terms are
different and I would think almost none imcomprehensibly so. In short,
localize as a courtesy, not as a necessity.
Cheers,
Hans Durstling
Moncton, Canada
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