The Guide to Translation and Localization: Same Language, Different Dialect

By Lingo Systems,
Portland, OR, U.S.A.

info [at] lingosys . com
www.lingosys.com

Get the List of 4,500+ Translation Agencies Now!
No Recurring Membership Fees!

Chapter 11: Same Language, Different Dialect

The difference between a dialect and a language could just as well be a geographic or even political distinction as much as a linguistic one. For example, a Dane, a Swede, and a Norwegian can speak their own language at a party and understand each other. It might be a litde harder for them to understand an Icelander, but more or less, the guests will still get the blonde jokes - well, maybe not the Swedes. This is because all of these Scandinavian languages have common roots from Old Norse. However, it is a sensitive issue to discuss whether Norwegian is a dialect of Swedish, if it is the other way around, or to identify a truly pure Scandinavian language. Therefore, it makes sense to call all these varieties languages instead of dialects, and to separate the dictionaries.

From an anthropological standpoint, however, everyone speaks a dialect of some other language. Winston Churchill once described the U.S. and the UK as two countries separated by a common language. That description extends to other languages as well. When translating written material in any form, it is critical to choose the right dialect in order to maximize the return on your localization investment. Some of the more common languages where these very important decisions arise are French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese.

Spanish [Iberian vs. Latin]

Spanish localization represents one of the most obvious opportunities to expand the market for your products. More than 410 million people around the world use Spanish as their native language. In the U.S. alone, roughly 35 million residents primarily speak Spanish, and that number is expected to grow substantially in the coming years.

The fact that Spanish is spoken so widely poses an interesting challenge for localization because the language has evolved in each region of the world. Spanish translators typically make a distinction between Iberian (Spain) and Latin (the Americas) Spanish. The differences are further compounded, however, when examined on a country by country basis. Although the broad brash of Latin Spanish includes Argentina, Columbia, Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico (to name a few), there are clear linguistic variations and peculiarities that characterize each...with the greatest being pronunciation.

The main stabilizing force for this highly dynamic language is the Real Academia de la Lengua Espanola (Royal Academy of the Spanish Language). This language academy oversees changes in grammar and vocabulary for all Spanish-speaking countries, including those in Latin America. Their decisions are meticulously observed by those who teach, write, or are in any way involved with the use and implementation of the Spanish language.

Eric Manning Senior Project Manager Project managers are the lifeblood of Lingo Systems. We are the guardians of the all-important Lingo process steps that must be followed to ensure that we provide the high level of quality for which the company is famous. In a world where everything must be done "faster, better, cheaper," it's our job to balance those needs with Lingo Systems' commitment to quality.

Given the lasting impact of their decisions, the Royal Academy is painstakingly slow in reaching those decisions. While the arbiters of new terminology may proceed at a very slow and cautious rate, technology races along. Until the Royal Academy decides each issue, the Spanish translator is forced to make his or her own decisions on terminology. Experienced translators are always careful to use terms that are understood by the greatest number of users, regardless of their location.

If Spanish has a regulating body that decides all matters concerning written Spanish (grammar, syntax, spelling, etc.), then why do some people believe that there are different kinds of Spanish? As noted above, the greatest differences exist in the way words are spoken and the way certain letters are pronounced (or maybe not pronounced). Thus, in certain parts of Spain, the letter "z" is pronounced as a soft English "th" as in the word "thin," whereas in Latin America, the letter "z" is always pronounced as an "s" as in "Sam." However, whether in Argentina, Mexico, or Madrid, the word "zapato" (shoe) must always be written with a "z." Local differences can also be found in the use of certain nouns - especially those that designate agricultural products: the English say "potato," Latin America prefers "papa," and Spain "patata."

Geography can also play a role in the determination of terminology. With their geographical proximity to the United States, some Latin American countries identify more closely with terms used in the United States and "Spanish-ize" the terms. A good example is the word "computer." In most Latin American countries "computer" is rendered as "computadora." In Spain, because of its proximity to France, "computer" is rendered as "ordenador," from the French "ordinateur." However, geographical proximity is not always the determining factor; take, for example, the English term "font." Latin America prefers "tipo" or "fuente," while Spain has kept the English word "font."

While these examples contrast Iberian and Latin American Spanish, other linguistic differences occur within Latin America. Chile, Colombia, and Argentina usually identify more closely with Europe than the United States, yet the rale is not hard and fast. The decimal and thousand separators are good examples. Mexico, Central America, and some South American countries use these separators in the same way as the United States (where one thousand twenty is represented as 1,020.00). Chile, Colombia, and Argentina prefer the European way of expressing separators (where one thousand twenty is represented as 1.020,00).

In the United States, the situation is even more complicated as Spanish speakers have emigrated from many different countries and brought their regionalisms with them. How, then, can you choose the best "regional" form of Spanish to translate into?

This is the key question that you must answer once you conclude that there is a business case for making your materials available to a Spanish speaking audience. At a minimum, you must decide between Iberian and Latin Spanish as no one "flavor" will always be fully suitable. In our experience, the differences are sufficiently significant that most companies will elect to do both when trying to reach a worldwide Spanish speaking audience. If you want to minimize your localization investment but still reach as broad an audience as possible, however, "International" Spanish maybe an adequate compromise.

Alternatively, if you must reach a very specific audience, such as Spanish for Colombia, your localization partner should provide experienced linguists who can do that. Select the market where the majority of your audience resides, or select two of the major regional forms. When setting out to translate into Spanish, you must identify your target audience and then select the regional form(s) to best reach them. Your localization partner can help you with this decision and then provide Spanish translators with extensive experience to ensure your materials are best understood by your target readers.

Portuguese [Portugal vs. Brazil]

Nearly 210 million people speak Portuguese throughout the world today. However, spoken Portuguese is not homogeneous. It differs in grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary among Portuguese speakers in Portugal and in Brazil. Moreover, unlike Spanish where a "neutral" or "international" Spanish may be adequate for most markets, it is very rare for companies to translate their materials into one flavor of Portuguese for both markets.

Brazilian Portuguese was not only influenced by native languages such as Tupinamba, but also by the many languages spoken by African slaves. Although some Brazilian words made their way to Europe, most were only used in Brazil. Southern Brazil absorbed a large influx of immigrants of Italian, German, and Japanese descent. These linguistic groups made several contributions to the language spoken in Brazil. Portuguese in Europe, meanwhile, was influenced by the French spoken during Napoleon's occupation of Portugal.

In the twentieth century, the linguistic split between Portuguese and Brazilian increased as the result of technological innovations that required new vocabulary. Unlike the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, there is no similar "watch dog" to condone adopting new terminology and grammar in Portuguese, and these two languages are increasingly growing apart. Brazilian Portuguese tends to be a more flexible language, much influenced by North American culture. For instance, Brazilian Portuguese translates the word "user" as "usuario" (a nonexistent word in European Portuguese), whereas European Portuguese translates it as "utilizador," similar to the French "utilisateur."

Internet World magazine published a list in the Brazilian edition that pointed out some additional differences:

Aside from words that are completely different and/or are used in a completely different context between these two variants of Portuguese, there are approximately 400 words with a different spelling and 1,500 with a different accent mark. There are also some grammatical differences.

Emily Garten Project Manager Up until age 181 was called by my middle name, which is Greek. Funny thing is, I'm not Greek at all. I wish I were Greek, then I would have family in Greece and I'd have an excuse to travel. Before settling down into a career, I traveled around the world. Now I sit at my desk and travel the world via email. That's my favorite part about my job at Lingo Systems - I get to talk to people across the globe every day.

When localizing into Portuguese, be aware of these differences. Your localization provider should distinguish between European and Brazilian Portuguese and should use native-quality speakers from the appropriate country to localize your product. Although Portuguese speakers from both sides of the Adantic can usually understand each other, not localizing separately for each market can lead to confusion among your end-users.

French [France vs. Canada]

There are now nearly seven million French speakers in Canada, mosdy located in the province of Quebec. Over the past four hundred years, the French spoken in this region has evolved dramatically, due in large part to the distance from French speakers in Europe. It is also due to the close proximity to English speakers in Canada and the United States.

Canada has certainly become a prime target market for localized products. In 1988, the Canadian government passed the Official Languages Act, which conferred equal "official language" status to both English and French. This was done in order to preserve the nation's French linguistic heritage and to "support the development of English and French linguistic minority communities and generally advance the equality of status and use of the English and French languages within Canadian society." As a result, all official federal government communications must be in both languages, and government services must be available in both languages. Many commercial products follow the government's lead and provide packaging, labeling, etc., in both English and French.

However, if you provide European French to a Canadian audience, you may be missing the mark. Canadian and European French differ in many ways, including vocabulary. Some differences include the following:

In addition, there are differences in pronunciation, in pronouns, in verbs, and in usage.

What, then, should you know when deciding whether to translate solely into French or into both French and French Canadian? French Canadians understand any material translated in French, since the written language is generally similar. If simple understanding is your goal, the expense of translating into both French and French Canadian may not be necessary.

However, if you want French Canadians to feel that your product has been custom-made for them, you should translate it into French Canadian as well to ensure cultural sensitivity. This can usually be accomplished by having the product of a French translator copyedited by a Canadian colleague. Most of the time, the linguistic changes are minimal, but you can then be confident that your product is indeed targeted for Canada.

Chinese [Mandarin vs. Cantonese, Traditional vs. Simplified]

"Can you speak and write Chinese?" This apparendy simple question can be answered by asking in turn, "Do you mean Mandarin, Hakka, Cantonese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, or...?" It seems that there is quite a bit of confusion regarding what exacdy "Chinese" means in regards to both the spoken language and the written language. Let's try to clear up some of this confusion.

First of all, spoken Chinese consists of dozens of different dialects, often mutually unintelligible from one another. Pu Tong Hua, known as "Mandarin" in most Western countries, and Cantonese are the two most widely spoken dialects. As early as the second century ВС (during the Han dynasty), language reforms were implemented in an attempt to standardize the language. Mandarin evolved as the official Chinese spoken language because it was derived from the Beijing (i.e., Peking) dialect, which was taught by scholars and used by the government for nearly 1,000 years. Taiwan and Singapore also use Mandarin as their official language. Cantonese, on the other hand, is a dialect widely spoken in the southern regions of China (the Guangzhou and Hong Kong areas).

Mandarin and Cantonese are the most widely spoken Chinese dialects, but they are by no means the only ones. For day-to-day conversation, many people still prefer to speak in the dialect of their respective regions. It is common to find that two people speaking two different dialects cannot communicate verbally; however, they can communicate in writing thanks to the standardization of the Traditional and Simplified writing systems.

The origin of the Chinese writing system is pictorial, dating back thousands of years. People drew pictures to express their thoughts - in short, to communicate. As you can imagine, this method of written communication was very cumbersome, making complex thoughts difficult to express. As a result, a number of reforms have been initiated to stylize and simplify the manner of writing Chinese. This has, in turn, resulted in a more uniform writing style.

Diana Warnock DTP Specialist Language shapes perception. Perception shapes reality. Reality is the result of social construction, which for humans, is built primarily with language. Humans are the only species who have the capacities to communicate thus. As a desktop publisher, I have opportunities to see our differences and commonalities, and I believe that language is the bridge across cultural disparity.

Of all the language reforms initiated over the past two millennia, none has had a greater impact than the one carried out by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) government after its establishment in 1949. The mid-twentieth century language reform simplified the characters used in the Traditional Chinese writing system by reducing the number of strokes needed to write a character. The end result was the Simplified Chinese writing system. The PRC and Singapore currently use the Simplified Chinese writing system. Hong Kong and Taiwan use the Traditional Chinese writing system; however, now that Hong Kong has been integrated into the PRC, we may see an increase in the use of Simplified Chinese there.

It is generally easier for a person who knows Traditional Chinese to understand Simplified Chinese characters than for a person who knows Simplified Chinese to understand Traditional Chinese characters. However, this is not a sure thing. Moreover, using one of the standard writing systems is still not always sufficient for proper localization. For example, the Traditional Chinese used in Taiwan is somewhat different from that used in Hong Kong. The character set is the same, but they are sometimes grouped differently to express various concepts. One example of this is the term "lunchbox." In Hong Kong, this term is expressed by pairing the character for "rice" with the character for "box;" in contrast, Taiwanese use a pair of characters that roughly translate as "convenience now." A Hong Kong reader unaware of Taiwanese culture would understand the characters but not grasp the lunchbox connotation. If you are planning to localize for the Hong Kong market or for the Singapore market, you should plan a special copy editing step in order to customize your translations for those specific markets.

Continuous efforts at language reform introduced the use of the Roman alphabet to "spell" the pronunciation of Chinese characters. The result was the standard Pin Yin spelling system that is widely used in China, Taiwan, and Singapore today.

So, "What is Chinese?" You can see now that it really is a "blanket term" for several major dialects and two major writing systems.

The next time you hear someone say, "We need this translated into Chinese!" you should first think about what the term "Chinese" really means!

As the means of communication becomes more efficient and accessible to people around the world, one has to wonder what the effect will be on language. Will languages become more homogeneous or will its users create their own identity by supporting distinct dialects? Will language differences be based increasingly on economic or age-related factors, geographic boundaries, relations with other countries, or perhaps ideology? Perhaps a cultural identity will prevail over a regional one, where physical distance might not have any influence at all. However these factors combine to influence language, it will have a direct impact on your business. Having a trusted localization partner, like Lingo Systems, to advise and assist you will be critical.

[ Table of Contents ]

Read more articles - Free!

E-mail this article to your colleague!

Need more translation jobs? Click here!

Translation agencies are welcome to register here - Free!

Freelance translators are welcome to register here - Free!

Subscribe to TranslationDirectory.com newsletter - Free!

Take part in TranslationDirectory.com poll - your voice counts!

Free Newsletter

Menu