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I am also very interested in differences between similar languages in
different countries.
I was recently asked to translate a manual written in (Canadian) English
into "Quebec" French, and then "localize" it for the "French" (from France)
market. I know many of those differences, but I would like to know if there
exists some kind of lexicon of terms which differ between the two "languages".
The same goes for American vs Canadian vs British English. Does anyone know
of any source of those differences (spelling, meaning, phrases, idioms,
symbols, etc.)? You can reply either privately or to the list. Perhaps I can
join Kathy Frost in summarizing this for the benefit of the people on this list.
Thank you all for your customary generous help.
Fabien Vais
phantoms -at- accent -dot- net
At 07:59 AM 8/5/97 -0400, Kathy Frost wrote:
>Please excuse the cross-posting. I am posting this to the Copyediting-L
>and TechWr-L lists because I need as many responses as possible.
>
>My company will be starting on international versions of our five products
>within a few weeks and I have been asked to gather any relevant
>information. (Double-byte Asian version sometime next year.) I need as
>much information as possible concerning differences we need to be aware of
>when creating the new versions. Some examples would be:
>* localized variations of spelling in English (examples: check and cheque,
>-ise vs. -ize)
>* differences in hardware, (no #, what US calls a pound sign, on European
>keyboards)
>* words in English that should be avoided in other cultures because they
>mean something else there
>* cultural issues, such as the Name field in applications needs to be
>longer in some places with typically
> long last names or countries where multiple middle names are common. (I
>need countries and estimated
> character lengths if available)
>
>Any information you have come across over the years would be greatly
>appreciated. We are all "word-oriented" people on these lists and I know
>many subscribers are like me and tend to collect oddities of language and
>culture as we correspond with people in other countries or through projects
>we have worked on.
>
>One of our new clients has offices in 56 countries so nothing you send me
>is going to go to waste.
>
>Please contact me off line if you have any information on
>internationalization issues. I will summarize the information I receive
>and let everyone know when it is available. If you would like a copy of
>the summary, please contact me off line so I can make a list of those I
>need to contact when it is ready.
>
>I can safely say "Thank You" in advance because I know the people on these
>lists are always willing to help others. Thank you very much.
>
> Kathy Frost
>Publications Specialist
>BT Squared Technologies, Inc.
>2970 Clairmont Rd Ste 1010
>Atlanta, GA 30329 USA
>(Interactive Sales System software)
>Phone: 404-322-1010 ext. 11
>EMail: KFrost -at- BTSquared -dot- com
>Web: www.BTSquared.com
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