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> - Madelyn Boudreaux (I would probably be a Boudrot if I was
> French, not
> Cajun, illustrating the spelling shift and the ending -X of
> an presumably
> illiterate ancestor's signature.)
Well, either those ancestors moved around a lot, or some parallel evolution
has happened.
In New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Quebec (provinces of the country to your
North), I have seen Beaudreau and Beaudreaux and Boudreau and Boudreaux. I
think I may even have seen a Budreau(x) or two.
Similarly, the Bordeaux region of France doesn't spell it Bordot (unless the
Academie Francaise has met again...and handed down some revised
pronouncements?? :-)
Anyway, is it common to write/translate technical documentation for Cajun?
Acadians in NB and NS would normally either make do with the English, or
would seek out the French-from-France version and, if that failed, would
read the Quecbec french version.
Quebec readers would have no problem following a French-from-France
document, except that they would feel something varying from mild distaste
to mortal offence (depending on political leanings) at not having a "proper"
Quebe-french translation. But, there are only a few million of them, total,
so the number of those that would read anybody's technical documents is
unlikely to be much more than a million for the most ubiquitous consumer
products (and a far smaller chunk of the population for any specialized
products). I guess it depends on what you call a significant market for
your product.
For perspective, currently our little 80-person company deals with huge
corporate and government organizations around the world almost exclusively
in English. I don't know how much longer we'll get away with not
translating, but ... so far... so good. :-)
Cheers,
/kevin
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