French Canadian Week

Well, this week was unofficially "French Canadian Week" here at ICD. Catherine and Madeline went to Montreal for 3 days to meet with clients, and attend a Trade show. While I had to deal with some interesting French Canadian projects. No, we really don't have language weeks, but it might be fun to have a language week. Maybe we could sample food from that particular country where the language originates, blog about a particular project in that language, and even dress in the local costumes (this might be stretching it a little).

Anyway, the French Canadian project I had was placing French Canadian translations and English text for a bi-lingual label. First off, the label was designed for one language, so the bi-lingual label had to have smaller fonts so everything would fit. Secondly, the client wasn't familiar with the idea or concept of a bi-lingual layout, which is ok, and I fielded a lot of questions about it. So, the project was finished and it was English/French Canadian, and the client asked if it was appropriate for English to go first followed by French Canadian. Generally, this is the accepted layout, but I did ask my translator in Montreal, and his response was rather interesting: " The bilingual version made for Quebec is fine as-is, but could be made 'French before English', which would be more appropriate since the majority of Quebecois are French-speaking. However, Canadians, whether they are Anglo or Franco, are very used to seeing both languages side by side. This bilingual version for all of Canada would also address French-Canadians living outside Quebec."

Well, this comment is interesting because I found out today from Catherine upon her return from Montreal, that the government of Quebec requires that if a child born to two Quebecois (French Canadian speaking couple, both parents are from Quebec) are ONLY allowed to attend schools where French is the medium of instruction. The government does this to maintain the French heritage and culture in Quebec. I just thought this was an interesting way to sum up French Canadian Week, plus I learned a little fact about Quebec and the French Canadian culture.