6 Golden Rules in French Translation for Capitalizing Words

The rules of capitalization play an important role in localizing a text as per the target segment. If you are a part of language or translation industry, then you cannot simply neglect the rules for capitalization. English has different rules and similarly any other language, like French also has some of its capitalization rules. It is a prevalent fact these days that French translation is highly sought after translation service, owing to its huge scope. Thus, even a minute mistake in the translation would not be acceptable.

If you are a French translator, then besides the language, culture and subject matter expertise, you must neglect the rules for capitalizing words. Such a mistake can hamper your translation quality. Some of the capitalization rules while translating from English to French are:

1. Titles

If you find a title in front of a proper noun (in an English text), then remember that the title would not be capitalized in French. For instance, if you read ‘Professor Mark’ in English, then it would be ‘le professeur Mark’ in French.

2. Religions

Another rule for capitalization puts light on the capitalization for religious words. The mark of an expert French language translation company is that the translators here do not capitalize the words related to religious groups, such as Muslim (in English) and musulman (in French). However, there are some exceptions to this rule. l’Islam, Bouddhiste and Hindou are always capitalized.

3. Family Names

While writing one’s name on the official documents, the French people write their surname in all caps. For example: Victor HUGO. So, while translating into French language, don’t forget to capitalize the surname of an individual.

4. Days and Months of Year

The days of the week and the months of the year are not capitalized in French language. Most of the providers of translation services in French language, keep this mind that such words are not capitalized, while localizing or translating into French.

5. Nationalities

Another rule that you must follow is that you should never capitalize the languages or nationalities in French. French is written as ‘le français’ in French. Apart from this, if the nationality is utilized as a proper noun in the sentence, then it would be capitalized.

6. Geographical Words

Last, but not the least; the geographical words also should not be capitalized in the French language. For e.g. if you see any name of a street, sea, mountain etc, ten they are not capitalized.

Conclusion

In order to deliver a completely localized and well translated copy in French language, it is necessary to keep track with such small parameters that must not be overlooked. People often neglect some minute details. But, in the field of language and translation, no detail must be ignored.

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