Re: Canadian French Translation

["Brierley, Sean" <Brierley -at- QUODATA -dot- COM>]

Hallo:

In my capacity as a technical writer, I have had to investigate, work with,
and make decisions about translation issues repeatedly.

My opinion is that localization of a product has as more to do with costs
than any cultural chauvinism.

>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Josee mariann Proulx [mailto:jmproulx -at- EMS -dot- NET]
>>>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.

>>>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...

That's all very nice. However, I've been through the localisation process a
few times, and from two different perspectives.

In one instance, the issue was whether to localize for European markets and
South America, the other was to localize for the US market. In both
instances cost and return were the issue.

Localization is about money. You have to spend a fair amount to localize. It
might be possible to raise the cost of your product in a particular locale
to offset the increased cost, but my experience has been that such a raise
prices you out of the market. You could spread the costs across all your
products in all markets, thus minimizing the effect . . . I have seen this
done. Or, you could decide that marketing and selling in particular locales
is not worth the cost. I have seen that, also.

For example, I worked for a company that wanted to localize machine,
software, and documentation for sale throughout Europe and South America.
Bear in mind, the company in question was selling in these locations
*without* localising, and doing very well. Issues that arose were: can we
use Parisian French in Canada, Brasilian Portuguese in Portugal, Mexican
Spanish in Puerto Rico and Spain . . . and so on. All of these decisions
rested on sales predictions for these locales and not an attempt to snub any
nation. Indeed, in discussion with employees who grew up and lived in some
of the nations in question, it was determined that shipping a US-English
product would be better received than shipping the product in an incorrectly
localised version of a native tongue.

In another example, I worked for a company that shipped a British-English
product to the US. True, this is odd for US customers--it is true that the
British are more accustomed to suffering American versions of the English
language. A decision was made by that company to translate and localize for
the US. This expensive decision was only a financial decision. Right or
wrong, the US market is huge, especially given the trade deficits the US
government endures, and the potential sales payoff is often worth the
investment. Though this company shipped to Canada and Quebec, no
Canadian-English or Canadian-French versions were produced. Again, no
intentional snub, just a financial decision about how to approach particular
markets.

I firmly agree that, in the best of all possible worlds, localizing for all
markets is best. However, companies usually consider financial issues when
making these decisions. Undoubtedly, a French-Canadian product localised for
its own market will fare much better than a foreign product localized for
the US or Parisian markets. The companies that failed to localise for
Quebec, though, have done so with such an understanding.

Finally, governments can and do protect the interests of their country by
legislating the use of particular languages on products sold there. Further,
buyers can and do make decisions based on the availability of competing
products in a particular language or dialect. I hope that in all cases,
companies comply with such requirements but fear, that in some, this causes
some products not to be offered in some places.

In any event, I suspect this Canadian-French translation will depend largely
on finances . . . if predicted sales are big enough in both France and
Canada, perhaps both languages will be accommodated. Similarly if sales
losses will be large due to not localising, I suspect the localisation will
happen for both nations. I doubt the decision will hinge on any cultural
chauvanism, though.

All the best,

Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com

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