By SARAH DiLORENZO, Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Here's the good news for those who remember struggling through dictation in French class: French spelling has been simplified. Here's the bad news: Few have noticed, and those who have don't like it.

An official body that includes government ministers and a representative of the Academie Francaise, the eminent French language institution, issued a new set of rules to simplify the spellings of many words, either to bring them in line with pronunciation or to eliminate exceptions.

The changes were made in 1990 — but French media are just getting wind of them.

For example, "aout" (August) drops the pointy circumflex accent over the "u''. "Baby-sitter" gets Frenchified into "babysitteur." Bonhomie, which has come into English with that spelling, becomes bonhommie — to reflect its root "homme" (man).

Both the new and old spellings remain acceptable, but the new ones are supposed to be taught in schools, so they will eventually — in theory — replace the old.

The problem? Few people seem to know about them, many are opposed, and most school texts don't use the new spellings. Even the Academie Francaise itself has chosen to include only some of the new spellings at the end of its dictionary — explaining that it would like to wait it out and see which spellings are adopted in general usage before giving its official blessing.

When television stations became aware of the "new" rules last month, they sent reporters out into the streets to test the French. Very few identified the new spellings as the correct ones — they all looked so strange! — though frequent, significant hesitations underscored how difficult even the French find it to spell their own words.

A few weeks later more evidence emerged of the difficulty of French spelling and grammar: a press release from the president's office was littered with mistakes, including a spelling error.

Confusion over the new rules has often been a breeding ground for resistance: On a chat board with a heading "against the new spelling!" the discussion is initially about the rules but quickly turns to lamenting the language of text messages and the loss of all accents in typed writing because of the use of "English" keyboards — both of which are far from being sanctioned by any linguistic body.

Read the rest of the article here.

Are you thinking of Iaunching your products in Mexico? Here are a few cultural tips to keep in mind to get your business off to a good start.

• Learn a few words or phrases in Spanish before you meet with potential business partners. They may speak fluent English, but they will appreciate the effort and see it as a sign of respect.
• Lunch is later than in the US - often sometime between 1 and 3 pm. Don't expect the conversation to be all about business - this is a leisurely meal that is more about getting to know everyone.
• Don't hail a taxi on the street. Ask someone to call a cab for you from a reliable company.
• Remember that Mexico City - or DF as Mexicans call it - is over 7,000 feet above sea level. You may feel light-headed or very sleepy when you arrive. Pace yourself the first few days until you are used to the altitude.
• Punctuality is not important in social situations. Take a deep breath and relax.

How Translation and SEO Work Together

by Amanda DiSilvestro

There is a lot of advice out there about optimizing a website or a blog for a select group of people (the English speakers), but what about everyone else? There is a good chance that the content on your website can help people all across the world, but it doesn’t matter if your website is only in English. Not only would this help other countries understand your content, but many Americans will also benefit. According to the U.S Census Bureau, about 47 million people, nearly 1-in-5 U.S. residents, spoke a foreign language at home in 2000. In other words, although some readers may be able to read your content in English, many would likely prefer to read it in another language. Think of it this way: If your website has the option to switch to Spanish, for example, and your competitor does not have that option, which website do you think will gain more readers?

What This Means for SEO

SEO is all about traffic, and translation will help give you that and more. Consider some of the reasons translation will work in your favor when it comes to SEO:

• Loyalty – Not only would translating your blog help expand your audience, but this audience will likely stick with your website. Instead of the occasional viewer, you will have a more loyal reader base because they will appreciate how easy it is to read.
• Competition – It is also much easier to rank highly on search engines in different languages because there is less competition.
• Duplicate Content – Duplicate content does not count across languages. This also makes it easy to rank highly on search engines in other languages.
• Opinions – You will gain a lot of new viewpoints on your content from different cultures. This will increase the popularity of your website, which will make it easier for others to quote your articles. More than anything, this is simply another way to increase traffic.

By and large, the most popular translation tool is Google Translate. However before you run out and jump on the Google Translate bandwagon, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to SEO and translation. There are actually translation services that work specifically for SEO purposes. Read more...