need advice from Canadians
Thread poster: Joan Berglund
Joan Berglund
Joan Berglund  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:19
Member (2008)
French to English
Jun 26, 2008

I have been doing much more Canadian French >English translation than usual lately and I am having a hard time getting a handle on when the names of goverment bodies, laws, acts, etc. should be translated and when they should be left in the original French. Official government English language websites and press releases seem to sometimes do one and sometimes the other. What is the standard?

 
Lany Chabot-Laroche
Lany Chabot-Laroche  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 21:19
Member (2009)
English to French
Depends Jun 26, 2008

If there is an official translation on a government website (usally easy to check out) then the name should be changed, otherwise it should be left as it is since any translation you do can only end up confusing the reader if no act of that name exists.

So, if it exists, use it, if it doesn't, don't.


 
Damon Loomer
Damon Loomer  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:19
Spanish to English
+ ...
Termium is a great resource Jun 26, 2008

Joan Berglund wrote:

I have been doing much more Canadian French >English translation than usual lately and I am having a hard time getting a handle on when the names of goverment bodies, laws, acts, etc. should be translated and when they should be left in the original French.


Are you using Termium (the federal government's bilingual glossary / database)? If you're doing a lot of Canadian French, it's really worth having, even at $250 / year. You can sign up for a one-week free trial.


 
Joan Berglund
Joan Berglund  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:19
Member (2008)
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
thanks everyone Jun 26, 2008

Hi Lany,
Thanks, that's pretty much what I have been doing, I just don't like the way it makes my translation internally inconsistent, with some things translated and some not. But if that's the standard, I will keep following it.
Damon, I sent a subscription off to Termium some time back after doing the trial, and never heard from them - I should follow up on that, they were useful. At the time I did it, you could only subsribe by mail, don't know if that has changed, but I will c
... See more
Hi Lany,
Thanks, that's pretty much what I have been doing, I just don't like the way it makes my translation internally inconsistent, with some things translated and some not. But if that's the standard, I will keep following it.
Damon, I sent a subscription off to Termium some time back after doing the trial, and never heard from them - I should follow up on that, they were useful. At the time I did it, you could only subsribe by mail, don't know if that has changed, but I will check
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PRen (X)
PRen (X)
Canada
Local time: 22:19
French to English
+ ...
Here's a great resource: Jun 27, 2008

I use http://www.canlii.org/ quite a bit. It's faster than going to the various dept. sites, and it's great for Quebec legislation, and you can easily click on the statute or regulations you want and toggle French/English. The statutes and regs themselves give a wealth of information/terms, in both languages. The definitions section at the beginning of each act is very informative.

As for names of dep
... See more
I use http://www.canlii.org/ quite a bit. It's faster than going to the various dept. sites, and it's great for Quebec legislation, and you can easily click on the statute or regulations you want and toggle French/English. The statutes and regs themselves give a wealth of information/terms, in both languages. The definitions section at the beginning of each act is very informative.

As for names of departments, all federal departments are translated, all provincial departments in bilingual provinces are translated (just check the provincial gov't site via: http://www.gc.ca/othergov-autregouv/prov-eng.html). Federal departments and employees are all listed at http://direct.srv.gc.ca/cgi-bin/direct500/BE, so if you need the name of a branch, division, directorate, etc., or position titles, check here.

Quebec provincial government departments are trickier, and translating them depends on the client. However, if you think your client needs them translated, check Termium (to subscribe, go to http://www.translationbureau.gc.ca/index.php?lang=english). It often offers "former" names of departments that are useful for courtesy translations. (And Termium is essential, in my view, if you're doing any government work, particularly for names of programs).
Another trick: say you come across the Quebec department, Ministère des Ressources naturelles et faune. If you look at the department's English page, you can see that they keep the French name (http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/english/home.jsp), but note the Minister's name, Claude Béchard, go to the National Assembly's English page at
http://www.assnat.qc.ca/eng/Membres/deputes_lst.html, look up Béchard, and you'll see that he's referred to as the Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife, so use that as your Department name. And be sure to check each province to see whether they use ministry or department. Ontario may be the only one left using Ministry, but I'm not absolutely sure of that.

Anyway, just a few tricks. You can email me privately if you have other questions or are stuck on something. I've been doing gov't work for a loooooonnnng time!
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