Marketing a language- selling books in France
Unfortunately, the French language has been categorized as being "Parisian French" and then a bunch of other variations that are lumped into various dialects, but that are otherwise "French".
Yet, all French is "French".
This unusual take on the subject is described in an article summary, originally written by Montreal writer Catherine Lalonde, who works for the newspaper, Le Devoir. This story is about a weird way to create a market for Quebecois literature.
Nevertheless, my question is this: Who is the authority who claims to be the know it all about what is "Quebecois French"?
Attributed to Le Devoir
This abridged article was published in The Week, October 11, 2019.
Merci, Catherine Lalonde.
CANADA- Do we have to purge Quebecois lierature to remove local slang, just to reach an audience in France? Publishers think so, said Catherine Lalonde. Quebecois authors are eager to get their works read in France, where the market is bigger and the literary awards grander. But, editors worry that French readers will find our French-Canadian dialect archaic, so they often put our a Frenchified version. Benoit Virot, the owner of Paris-based publisher Le Nouvel ATtila, says he does this so that French readers won't be "locked out" of Quebecois literature. His company released Kevin Lambert's 2019, Quebec best-seller, "Querelle de Roberval" (The Roberval Quarrel) with the title Querelle, because French readers won't have heard of the Canadian town of Roberval. And, it made many other minor tweaks to the test, changing slang terms for "guys" and "vaginas,", for example, to the more familiar Parisian terms. But, author Lambert said it would "tear his heard out" if the publisher altered the typically Canadian swear words- which tend to be related to Catholicism, like tabarnak and crisse- that his characters use.
So, Virot kept those words when they appeared in dialogue, but with a Frenchified spelling. The idea, Virot says, is to introduce Quebecois terms to the French, bit by bit, and book by book, until Parisians eventually "understand Quebecois without realizing it."
(IMO- Mon Dieu c'est absurde!)
Yet, all French is "French".
This unusual take on the subject is described in an article summary, originally written by Montreal writer Catherine Lalonde, who works for the newspaper, Le Devoir. This story is about a weird way to create a market for Quebecois literature.
Nevertheless, my question is this: Who is the authority who claims to be the know it all about what is "Quebecois French"?
Attributed to Le Devoir
This abridged article was published in The Week, October 11, 2019.
Merci, Catherine Lalonde.
CANADA- Do we have to purge Quebecois lierature to remove local slang, just to reach an audience in France? Publishers think so, said Catherine Lalonde. Quebecois authors are eager to get their works read in France, where the market is bigger and the literary awards grander. But, editors worry that French readers will find our French-Canadian dialect archaic, so they often put our a Frenchified version. Benoit Virot, the owner of Paris-based publisher Le Nouvel ATtila, says he does this so that French readers won't be "locked out" of Quebecois literature. His company released Kevin Lambert's 2019, Quebec best-seller, "Querelle de Roberval" (The Roberval Quarrel) with the title Querelle, because French readers won't have heard of the Canadian town of Roberval. And, it made many other minor tweaks to the test, changing slang terms for "guys" and "vaginas,", for example, to the more familiar Parisian terms. But, author Lambert said it would "tear his heard out" if the publisher altered the typically Canadian swear words- which tend to be related to Catholicism, like tabarnak and crisse- that his characters use.
So, Virot kept those words when they appeared in dialogue, but with a Frenchified spelling. The idea, Virot says, is to introduce Quebecois terms to the French, bit by bit, and book by book, until Parisians eventually "understand Quebecois without realizing it."
(IMO- Mon Dieu c'est absurde!)
Labels: Canada, Catherine Lalonde, French-Canadian, Le Devoir, Quebecois, Querelle
posted by Juliana L'Heureux at 1:41 PM
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