France is home to a string of global players, including the luxury retail group LVMH, automakers PEUGEOT, Citroën and Renault, healthcare giant Sanofi, and Airbus as Europe’s largest aeronautics and space company. When it comes to tourism, France has successfully defended its title as the world’s most-visited country for many years running.
According to the latest World Economic Outlook (Oct. 2024), the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) comes in at an impressive 3.28 trillion USD, putting it in the same league as the United Kingdom (3.73 trillion USD). Boasting a population of roughly 66 million, France accounts for 2.19 % GDP of the global purchasing power parity (PPP) overall.
In other words, tapping into the French market can prove a very lucrative venture. If you’re thinking about climbing onto the bandwagon, the chances are that you’ve done some digging already. But have you thought about your language requirements?
Everyone speaks English though, right?
The short answer is no. It is true that English is a widely spoken language and that some companies deliberately choose to sprinkle their marketing copy with English words. The reverse phenomenon can be found in English-speaking markets. We just need to look at the perfume business as an example, where French phrases such as pour l’homme and eau de toilette are commonplace. The underlying idea is to give the scent’s image a certain je ne sais quoi in the eyes of consumers – an emotional association to create a sense of luxury and justify the price tag. But leaving all your marketing materials in English and expecting it to have the same impact across all markets will not produce the desired result and can even backfire.
You need your taglines, slogans, and jingles to resonate with your target audience. Marketing seeks to play on our emotions and this works best in our native tongue. It’s not for nothing that big brands like McDonalds, Coca Cola, and Haribo have translated their marketing copy into a laundry list of languages using a process called transcreation.
Laying down the law
Whilst the above considerations are relevant to any business ventures abroad, using or translating into the local language is often an absolute must in France. If you’re thinking of advertising or operating within the French market, you need to be aware of what is commonly referred to as the Toubon Law (la loi Toubon), named after former culture minister Jacques Toubon.
Dating back from 1994, this legal text builds on Article 2 of the French constitution. Its primary goals are to safeguard French linguistic heritage, guarantee citizens access to knowledge and information, and ensure the safe use of products by consumers. Its application permeates many areas of daily life, including business, media and advertising.
Advertising à la française
The long and short of it is that you need to consider whether your marketing content and product information in general is comprehensible to French speakers. If you decide, for example, to keep a tagline in English (or any other foreign language) on a public billboard, the law says you need to provide a legible, comprehensible French translation. So when Adidas produced billboards for the French market exclaiming “Welcome to Club Originals”, they also included the French translation “Bienvenue au Club Originals”, as required by law.
It’s not all about the customer
The regulations also extend to internal corporate communications, meaning you’ll need to communicate with workers employed in France in the French language – or at least give them the opportunity to access relevant information in French, including employment contracts or user manuals. This is a legal obligation and non-compliance has its price, as some multinationals have already discovered…
In 2006, General Electric Medical Systems (GEMS) was found to have neglected its obligations under the Toubon Law, in conjunction with the French labour code, to provide documentation to its workforce in French. The US medical imaging equipment company was served a six-figure fine. In the same vein, Insurer Europ Assistance was ordered by the courts to translate its in-house company software into French or face a 5,000-euro fine for every day it failed to comply.
Le verdict
No matter what industry you operate in, France is bursting with opportunities. Investing in translation is a strategic consideration when tapping into this market. Not simply because you engage with customers best when you speak their language, but also because this country imposes obligations on companies and employers to provide content in French. Having a reliable language service provider at your side can help you get off to a flying start.
How First Edition Translations can help
In the localisation business since 1981, we collaborate with a whole range of publishers, law firms, PR agencies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, CROs, and public sector organisations to bring everything from literature to legalese to new audiences. French is a popular language among our client base and we work with qualified, vetted linguists to deliver quality results. We are always happy to provide a no-obligation quote and discuss what’s best for your requirements. You can reach our team via our website.