Allow 2 to 5 days for translation work to be completed depending on length of copy. Costs will vary between .28 ¢ and 35 ¢ a word. Pricing may be on a per word or per hour rate. Be wary of translators who will agree to do the work for much less than this. The work might be good, but chances are you are not dealing with a professionally-trained translator. This could be costly in the long run as errors could mean redoing thousands of labels or being pulled off shelf for unacceptable wording of nutrition claims, etc. Bearing in mind that the government has well-defined wording for nutrition claims and statements, it is important that the translator be familiar with the guidelines in this area. When in doubt, we recommend that you have your English label reviewed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (transferred from Industry Canada in 1999) prior to submission for French translation. 

We highly recommend that the translator has a final look at the typeset copy prior to final printing, especially as typesetting is usually done by an English firm. Errors in hyphenation are common and result in hard-to-read copy for French consumers. Spelling errors including missing accents can be costly and misleading - for example, the word "sale" without an accent on the final e means "dirty", but "salé" with an accent means "salted". Also, one wrong letter could dramatically alter the meaning. There was one case where 50,000 bottles of hair shampoo were transformed it into "horse shampoo" because of one vowel error and had to be recalled by the manufacturer. 

When designing your label, remember that the French copy is approximately 20% longer than the English one. Depending on the length of copy, you might need to consider a wraparound label - one side French, one side English - or shortening the English copy. If possible, it is always helpful to send a rough layout of your label so that the translator can also be aware of space constraints imposed by any artwork and its location on the label. Your translator can then advise as to areas which might be shortened or eliminated in the French copy, if necessary. 

The trademark need not be translated. However, if you wish to francize it, you will need to follow the same procedure as you did for the English one, i.e. trademark search and registration. 

You must be careful that the translation of your trademark is not in any way misleading, offensive or meaningless for the French market, bearing in mind that there could be slight variations in meaning or connotation between Quebec and international French. This also applies to any copy on your packaging. For example, the word "gomme" is used in France to translate "eraser". In Quebec the word "gomme" means "chewing gum" while the word "efface" is used to translate "eraser". 

Consistency in terminology is also very important to ensure that your products carry a recognizable "image" for your customers. Consistency in packaging appearance is as important as in the vocabulary used. For this reason, be sure to inform your translator of any previous French vocabulary used or preferred terminology. Your translator will in turn refer to prior work done for you in order to keep similar style and wording. 

When taking into account the cost and time factors, remember that any slogan or promotional line must be "adapted" into French. This means that the translator cannot do a straight translation of the words but must adapt the slogan or promo line in a manner that will reflect the English while also giving it the same selling punch. For example, the advertising for Christie's crackers with cheese in the middle reads "Mr. Christie's soft spot" while the French reads "M. Christie s'y connaît en tendresse" - "Mr. Christie's knows all about tenderness". In this example, "soft spot" is a well-known English expression which does not have a literal French equivalent. The French copywriter used a well-known French expression, "s'y connaît en", to know well about, combined with "tenderness" to convey the softness of the cheese spread between the two crackers. 

In today's market, the quality of your packaging and labelling is more important than ever. This extends to the quality of the overall look of your package and label as well as to the quality of the English copy and the translation thereof. The Quebec consumers are very sensitive about this issue and feel that proper French is not only a matter of respect for their language but should also be a matter of pride to the company producing it.