Doing Business In Canada? The Quality of Your French is Key!

Doing business in Canada often involves translating various business related documents from English to French and French to English, as case may be. In Canada, Official Languages Act awards equal official status to English and French. As a result, various trade documents, labels and operating/instruction manuals must be provided in both languages. If you’re doing business in Quebec, The Charter of French language and various regulations make use of French mandatory in various communications and business related situations. Depending on your industry or type of work do, choosing right translation company might turn out to be a bigger challenge than you think. Where can I find a translator who understands my business? Don’t kid yourself! Truly qualified translators are hard to find, especially for law, finance, medicine, science, engineering and most areas and industries involving any form of specialized knowledge. In many industries, single most important cause of product recall is mislabeling, often caused by inaccurate translations. Product labels hardly qualify as complex technical documents. Now, if simple labels containing at most a few lines of text are so often botched, imagine what happens to really complex documents like commercial agreements, scientific research and technical reports when they are translated by wrong people. The translation industry is almost entirely unregulated •No special licence is required to work as a translator or operate a translation company. •Legally, anyone can offer translation services, on any subject-matter, in any language combination. •Unlike doctors, lawyers, charted accountants, actuaries and engineers, to name a few, translators are not required by law to belong to a professional order such as a Law Society, a College of Physicians or an Order of Engineers which verify qualifications and control admissions. What does it mean to be “certified”? The term "certified" is widely used by translation companies to promote their services. What does it mean? This term may be used either to describe translator or translation itself. When used to describe translation itself, it often refers to an affidavit or other sworn statement provided by a translator to confirm accuracy or correctness of translation. When translators are “certified”, it is usually through membership in an association of translators. Translators joins such associations freely and for various reasons. They are not obligated by law or statute to belong to a professional order or obtain a licence to practice their trade. Hiring a "certified" translator does not guarantee actual quality of translation, especially for industry-specific and technical documents. Technical translations require specific knowledge and relevant expertise When translation is legal, financial, medical, scientific or technical in nature, most qualified translator will likely be a bilingual professional, with a degree in that field or a closely related area and industry specific experience, both in English and French.

Internet Cell Phone Deals – How to Take Advantage of Them

The internet can be a great place to buy your next cell phone. How many times have you been in mall and were harassed by some pushy wireless telephone dealer? The internet store is a sharp contrast to this type of environment. On internet, you can take your time, research a particular phone, and search for best deals. In addition to this, internet dealers generally have better cell phone deals than their brick and mortar competitors. But how do you take advantage of these better deals?

In 2004, government approved number portability. Number portability allows you to keep your cell phone number, even if you switch carriers. The implications of this are crucial for taking advantage of internet cell phone deals.

Internet dealers often offer some very innovative and high end cell phones for free after rebate. However, to receive these offers, you must also sign up for a new cell phone plan. If you want to stay with your current carrier, you must sign up for a new phone number along with new phone plan. This is because number portability is carrier to carrier (not inter-carrier). Although you could upgrade your phone and keep your number and carrier, this would not qualify you for most internet offers. The alternative is to keep your cell phone number (through number portability) and switch carriers. However, if you choose this option, make sure that you are not under contract with your current provider or you could stand to face a hefty termination charge.