Translated's Research Center

Canada

North America

To which language should you translate to localize in Canada?

What we know from our community

Canada has two official federal languages, English and French, eight provinces in which English is the official language, one in which French is the official language, one province and one territory in which both French and English are official languages, and two territories with different mixes of English, French and Aboriginal languages (from the Dene, Inuit and Cree families) counted as official. To simplify.

In practice, almost everyone in Canada speaks one of the two federal official languages (and a bit under 80% as a mother tongue). A large majority of Canadian French speakers live in Québec, but they are present through Canada, with significant communities in Ontario and the Maritime provinces on the eastern coast (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island). Most English speakers are not bilingual, and while a larger amount of French speakers are, localizing in Canada still means localizing in both languages. In fact, in some cases it’s illegal not to : the Charte de la langue française (Charter of the French language) mandates the use of French by businesses operating in the province of Québec (nearly a fourth of the population).

Canadian English is fairly close to American English, though it retains some elements of British spelling. We use localize like the Americans, but colour like the British. French Canadian has a more complicated relationship to its European variant, and the differences are strongly dependent on register. The differences are small in technical, academic or administrative contexts, but a natural, somewhat informal voice in Canada is very different from the same in France, from the use of pronouns like tu and on, to the use of anglicisms (and which anglicisms), to preferences in structure. In both cases, speakers will generally understand the variants, but they will notice the differences and those differences will grow more jarring the more a text has creative or marketing intent.

LANGUAGE INSIGHT

Official language

English (58.7%; 23.53 mln), French (22%; 8.8 mln).

Actual languages

English (58.7%; 23.53 mln), French (22.0%; 8.8 mln), Punjabi (1.4%; 561k), German (1.3%; 521k), Italian (1.3%; 521k), Spanish (1.3%; 521k), Chinese (1.2%; 481k), Tagalog (1.2%; 481k), Arabic (1.1%; 441k), Polish (0.7%; 280k), Portuguese (0.7%; 280k), Ukrainian (0.6%; 240k), Dutch (0.5%; 200k), Russian (0.4%; 160k), Inuit (0.1%; 40k), other (7.5%; 3 mln).

What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in Canada

(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)

  • 131/150 localize by translating into both English and French
  • 6/150 localize by translating into English
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into both English and German
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Simplified Chinese
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Czech, Hungarian, Nederland, Polish and Swedish
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Hungarian, Polish, Thai, Ukrainian, Turkish, Romanian and Bahasa Indonesia
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French and Simplified Chinese
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese
  • Localization available 3M
  • Localization available ABB
  • Localization available Accenture
  • Localization available Adidas
  • Localization available Adobe
  • Localization available Airbnb
  • Localization not available Aldi
  • Localization available Amazon
  • Localization available American Airlines
  • Localization available American Express
  • Localization available Apple
  • Localization available Audi
  • Localization available Autodesk
  • Localization available Avis
  • Localization available Bayer
  • Localization available BMW
  • Localization available Booking.com
  • Localization available Bosch
  • Localization available British Airways
  • Localization available Bumble
  • Localization available Burberry
  • Localization not available BYD
  • Localization available Canon
  • Localization available Capgemini
  • Localization available Cartier
  • Localization available Caterpillar
  • Localization available Chevrolet
  • Localization available Cisco Systems
  • Localization available Citibank
  • Localization available Coca-Cola
  • Localization available Costco
  • Localization available Dell
  • Localization available Deloitte
  • Localization available Delta
  • Localization available DHL
  • Localization available Disney+
  • Localization available Dyson
  • Localization available eBay
  • Localization available Eli Lilly
  • Localization available Emirates
  • Localization available Ernst & Young
  • Localization available Facebook
  • Localization available FedEx
  • Localization available Ford
  • Localization available Four Seasons
  • Localization available Fujifilm
  • Localization available GE
  • Localization available Gillette
  • Localization available GoDaddy
  • Localization available Google
  • Localization available Gucci
  • Localization available Haier
  • Localization available Heineken
  • Localization available Hermès
  • Localization available Hertz
  • Localization available Hilton
  • Localization available Hisense
  • Localization available Hitachi
  • Localization available Honda
  • Localization available Hotels.com
  • Localization available HP
  • Localization available HP Enterprise
  • Localization available HSBC
  • Localization available Huawei
  • Localization available Hyatt
  • Localization available Hyundai
  • Localization available IBM
  • Localization available IKEA
  • Localization available Intel
  • Localization available InterContinental Hotels
  • Localization not available J&J
  • Localization available Jack Daniel's
  • Localization available Jehovah’s Witnesses
  • Localization available John Deere
  • Localization available Kellogg's
  • Localization available Kia
  • Localization available KPMG
  • Localization available L'Oréal
  • Localization available Land Rover
  • Localization available LEGO
  • Localization available Lenovo
  • Localization available Lexus
  • Localization available LG
  • Localization available Louis Vuitton
  • Localization available Lululemon
  • Localization available LUSH
  • Localization available Marriott
  • Localization available MasterCard
  • Localization available McDonald's
  • Localization available Mercedes-Benz
  • Localization available Merck
  • Localization available Microsoft
  • Localization available Mitsubishi Electric
  • Localization available Nestlé
  • Localization available Netflix
  • Localization available Nike
  • Localization available Nikon
  • Localization available Nintendo
  • Localization not available Nio
  • Localization available Nissan
  • Localization available NIVEA
  • Localization available Oracle
  • Localization available Pampers
  • Localization available Panasonic
  • Localization available PayPal
  • Localization available Pepsi
  • Localization available Pfizer
  • Localization available Philips
  • Localization available Pitney Bowes
  • Localization available Porsche
  • Localization available Procter & Gamble
  • Localization available PWC
  • Localization not available Revolut
  • Localization available Rolex
  • Localization available Royal Caribbean
  • Localization available Salesforce
  • Localization available Samsung
  • Localization available Sanofi
  • Localization available SAP
  • Localization available Sephora
  • Localization available Shopify
  • Localization available Siemens
  • Localization available Sony
  • Localization available