Many of our clients are successfully doing business in Canada. If our northern neighbor is your next market, here are a few things to keep in mind.

• Although being on time for business meetings is important, you may find that people in French-speaking areas may not be as punctual as their English-speaking peers.
• English-speaking Canadians are more reserved than Americans. Tone down the hype and self-promotion to get your business relationship off to a good start.
• All labels on products sold in Canada need to be in English and French, and the French text needs to be at least the same size as the English. Any measurements need to be converted to the metric system.
• Make sure the dates you propose for any meetings or conference calls do not coincide with official Canadian holidays. You can find a list here.
• If you have meetings scheduled in Quebec, it is a good idea to have your presentation materials translated into French before you go.

For your business document translation needs in Canada, contact P & L Translations. Visit our website or email us at info(@)pandltranslations.com.

Morrison, Terri, and Wayne A. Conaway (2006). Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands, 2nd edition. Massachusetts: Adams Media Corporation.

Nashville is proud to be the home of hundreds of companies involved in the health care industry. Many are these firms are now using or developing mobile applications and online sites for providers, patients, insurers and consumers to share information and communicate with each other. One key group of users is being short changed when it comes to having access to this information: Spanish speakers.

Lee Vann, author of "Online Hispanics have a hard time finding health information in Spanish", notes that more than half of Latinos who are online visit a health website every month. They are visiting English language sites because there are relatively few sites with information in Spanish. Why are so few companies meeting the demand for content in Spanish? Will Nashville be able to keep its title of the US health care capital if it ignores Spanish speakers?

You can read more of Lee's findings here.

Here are a few interesting articles about language, accents, and being bilingual that we came across during the past week.

(NY Times) A federal investigation of possible civil rights violations prompted the state to call off its accent police. (Read more...)

(NY Times) Many acronyms meant to be written have wormed their way into spoken language. (Read more...)

Clearing Up Common Myths About What It Means to Be Bilingual(Huffington Post) "It takes more than having two hands to be a good pianist. It takes more than knowing two languages to be a good translator or interpreter." (Read more...)

What language news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below.

Happy International Literacy Day! Celebrate by making a donation to Books from Birth of Middle Tennessee and help support early childhood literacy here in our community. Children enrolled in the program receive an age-appropriate book from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library every month from birth until age five, regardless of family income, and at no cost to their families.