Localization: A Traditional Perspective


Place d'Armes - Old Montréal, © Tourisme Montréal
The traditional translation sector is on the cutting edge of the double-edged sword of official bilingualism in Canada. On the one hand, the sector enjoys an international reputation for excellence. On the other hand, because official mandates ensure the demand, an ever-growing demand, for English<>French translation services, the sector risks competition from multinational localization providers who can provide multilingual, diversified localization services. Faced with this competition, localization has elicited inquiry and controversy in the traditional translation sector.

In 1999, the Canadian Translation Industry Sectoral Committee (CTISC) engaged in a rigorous evaluation of the industry’s past, present and future. Gilles Gamas, president of Société Gamma Inc., served as co-chair of the committee. In an interview this spring, Gamas shared his perspectives on localization and the future of the translation industry in Canada.

In Montreal, Société Gamma makes its home in the historic Old Port, a neighborhood steeped in history and tradition, across the street from the Place d’armes. The heart of the city when the French still ruled, the Place d’armes once hosted military exercises and religious processions. The Gadoys spring issued from the spot and provided water for the community. Now, flowers crowd statuary that memorializes the history of the city. (Photo credit: Place d'Armes - Old Montréal, © Tourisme Montréal.)

The offices of Société Gamma on the 5th floor of 507 Place d’armes, exudes a warmth lacking in more modern corporate settings. For one thing, there are real paintings, beautiful paintings, on the walls, not prints. While not quite as old as the Place d’armes, Société Gamma embodies the history of the translation sector in Canada.

Company president, Gilles Gamas, embraces that tradition. “We’re the traditional sector of translation to start with,” Gamas said. “We’re probably very representative of a typical Canadian translation firm.” Société Gamma focuses on the official language pair. English to French represents 85% of their work; French to English makes up the balance. For Gama, however, tradition does not mean stasis.

“We’ve always been on the lookout for tools,” Gama said, “because we now have a fairly large firm.” The company, with offices also in Ottawa, employs 100 and, according to its president, ranks second in Canada in terms of size. Only LexiTech, based in Moncton, New Brunswick, is bigger.

The search for tools led Gamas to Claude Bedard, a seasoned technical translator with a keen interest in technology. “What I like in Claude Bedard is he always challenges the conventional wisdom,” Gama said. “He’s not a follower.” With Bedard and the RALI (Laboratoire de Recherche Appliquée en Linguistique Informatique), Société Gamma shepherded the development of a translation tool, LogiTerm, that integrates a terminology data bank, a text archive and and a powerful alignment component.

The copyright of the article Localization: A Traditional Perspective in Export Marketing is owned by Nancy A. Locke. Permission to republish Localization: A Traditional Perspective in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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