Re: Multilingual conversion - Ideas ?


"James J. Gavan" <jgavandeletethis@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:fX1hf.587004$tl2.527860@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Just as important as your translation is, you also have to take into
> account cultural differences. Some while back, not computing, but saw
> where some 'household' product names just didn't make it in the Third
> World - the translations were either hilarious or offensive in particular
> countries.

Anecdote off the top of my head (no citation available): some Microsoft
product localized for Spanish had a set of radio buttons asking if the user
was "male" or "bitch".

>
> Let's just check out of curiosity - Alain, assuming something was written
> in French by somebody in Quebec, any chance it would be hilarious when
> viewed in France or Belgium ?

I learned France's French, but live in Quebec. AFAIK, there aren't
really any terms that mean something in one dialect and something else in
the other (e.g. Nothing like "***" which means cigarette in British English
and homosexual in American English). Usually, they'll be terms that exist in
one dialect and "don't exist" in the other, though usually people will be
able to guess what you meant. Quebec French, for example, borrows a lot of
English terms like "Weekend", which the France French call "Fin de Semain"
(literally "end of the week").

- Oliver


.