A new system that translates the names of Ottawa’s bus stops leads to some curious results.

Since Canada is an officially bilingual country, all public communication must be presented in both French and English.

Thanks to a recent initiative from Ottowa’s public transportation system, passengers are now provided with recorded bilingual announcements of all of the city’s bus stops.

So buses now call at, for example “Westboro — Westboro, “or “Preston — Preston,” the latter version being pronounced with a French accent.

You get the picture – most of the stops are basically in English, and no “translation” is really possible.

“The goal is to help everyone know when to get off the bus, regardless of how well they see, hear or speak a second language, “writes Claire Brownell for the Ottowa Citizen. “As the city’s transit riders are discovering — sometimes over giggles and groans about the repetition — that simple goal is not so simple to put into practice.”

Actually, the city’s method for translating the stops is actually very well thought-out. Committees studied how English-speakers and French-speakers referred to different locations in their everyday lives.

This approach gives some linguistically curious results. As cited in the article, River Road was translated as “rue River” rather than “rue Rivière” because, it turns out, River is a proper noun.

Other translations are more debatable. According to the article, a French-speaking resident of Ottowa may likely speak of “ First Avenue” in a number of ways: Première Avenue, First Avenue or First Ave.

However, the translation committee managing the project finally decided on “Avenue First” – which may produce a few snickers on the daily commute.

Betty Carlson

See Also

• Language Translation, Inc.
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