Most common mistakes in Canadian French
Wrong term
These errors happen most often when a term is translated literally into Canadian French without looking up its meaning or when an English term is kept in English where a more appropriate Canadian French term exists.
-Tips / Recommendations
Be wary of anglicisms. Canadian French often creates and promotes new words (neologisms) and translations rather than using English words (anglicisms) that are tolerated in France. For example, the word « email » translates to « courriel » in Canada as opposed to « mail » in France. Words like « business », « meeting » and « sponsoring » will be used in France, while « affaires », « réunion » and « commanditaires » are preferred in Canada.
Please consult the free language resources that are provided by the federal government (Resources of the Language Portal of Canada, e.g. TERMIUM Plus®) and the provincial government (Office québécois de la langue française, e.g. Le grand dictionnaire terminologique). These ensure proper vocabulary is used in French writing by offering great resources (terminological databases, tips, tools, etc.).
Termium: http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-fra.html?lang=fra
Le grand dictionnaire terminologique: http://www.granddictionnaire.com/
Syntactic
An error is classified as syntactic when an entire sentence or a large part of it does not flow well. This is often the case when a sentence keeps its English structure when translated into French (a type of literal translation).
-Tips / Recommendations
Please re-read your translations to ensure proper flow. When you’re stuck on how to make a sentence « sound better, » don’t be afraid to rewrite it in your own words. You can also visit websites such as WordReference or Linguee.com to see how other people have translated similar expressions or phrases. Please make sure that the examples you use come from Canadian sources, especially when using Linguee. Canadian sources are easily spotted with the .ca country code or .qc.ca provincial code.
Spelling
These errors often stem from improper use of accents or capitalization.
-Tips / Recommendations
The spell checker will not pick up on accent errors such as « tache » vs « tâche. » Please pay special attention to these words.
Note that capital letters must bear accents. For example, use « Éditer » and not « Editer. »
Be weary of superfluous capitalization. Months and days of the year are not capitalized, neither are nationalities and languages, unless they are proper nouns. Position titles in front of a proper noun are also not capitalized.
Please read the following resources on Canadian French capitalization rules:
Guide du rédacteur: https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/redac-chap?lang=eng&lettr=chapsect3&info0=3#zz3
The Canadian Style: https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&lettr=indx96&info0=17.04
