If you call the Office québécois de la langue française because your phone only shows applications with English names, you will be informed that your complaint is not admissible. The article of the Charter of the French Language which stipulates that businesses must display in French on the front of their business does not apply to the home screen of your phone.
However, as soon as you open an application offered in Quebec, the service must be offered in French. Like its website and social media accounts. If so, the company complies with the regulations.
When registering with the Quebec Business Registrar, a company must have a name in French. It is then free to put forward the English version, as long as the site or application complies with the regulations.
And corporate names in English for applications, sites or physical businesses have multiplied in recent years, which often provokes strong reactions from our readers. Many entrepreneurs justify their decisions in the name of future international development.
FoodHero, the company behind the anti-waste application of the same name, also goes by the name Marché FoodHero. Improve, an NPO that also tackles food waste, is also called Improve. According to the business register, at least.
Same thing for the WeChalet rental platform, which has the official (and confidential) name Nature WeChalet. Its founder, Dany Papineau, admits that the word Nature was added only to meet regulatory requirements.
As for this linguistic duality, it came quite naturally.
This was at a time when the word “we” was used a lot by companies like WeTransfer, WeChat or WeWork. However, when it comes to chalet rental, the letters “we” can also be seen as the abbreviation of “week-end”, a word commonly used by French speakers, explains Dany Papineau. “A chalet, you often rent that on weekends,” says the one who never had the idea of adopting the word cottage in the name of his company.
He says the word chalet sounds very upscale in English and is easily used by Spanish speakers who use the service. The entrepreneur received some criticism at the launch of the platform, but for the French-speaking use of the name.
“Cirque du Soleil is still an example of a company that has managed to break through internationally with a French name,” recalls Dany Papineau.
“The chalet is part of Quebec culture,” says the man who nevertheless got his hands on the “ouichalet” brand, but who does not believe he will use it in the short or medium term.
The founder of FoodHero is one of those who believe that a company with international aims has every advantage in adopting a company name in English.
“We are not people who think small,” says Jonathan Defoy straight away. Personally, I have always had international companies in the technology field. From the start, there was no question of remaining confined to Quebec. »
The entrepreneur admits, however, that he tried puns in French with the word hero, without success. He also specifies that if his business had had physical service points in Quebec, his strategy would have been completely different. “My position is that when a company is local, aimed at Quebecers and established on the street, I am not for an English name,” he said.
A good strategy?
“It’s not a small question,” immediately responds Louis-Félix Binette, general director of the Quebec Innovation Accelerator Movement.
“We work with companies that we call young technological start-ups with high growth potential,” he explains. These companies are often based on a business model which bases its probabilities of success on an international market, in the jargon we say global first. These companies don’t think first of selling things in their city, then expanding in their region, across the country, and then exporting afterwards. These companies have a business model that aims to break into the international market from the start of their marketing. »
“From this perspective, there is a concern to be a seller on an international scale. Choosing a name is one of a lot of decisions you have to think about,” he maintains.
Mr. Binette adds that in many cases, these young companies will need investors who are sometimes established outside Quebec and who do not speak French. “So the name of the company is part of what allows you to quickly attract an investor, to attract their attention. Does my name quickly say what I’m doing? “, he says, referring in particular to Lightspeed, a local company which has developed a fast payment platform.
Diluted
At HEC Montréal, Claude Ananou, lecturer in the management department, does not share this opinion at all. He strives every day to explain to his students that a company name in English is not a panacea.
“It’s a strong trend which is not rational,” he says bluntly. I don’t see the point of having a name in English if that’s not our nature.
“You become diluted in the English-speaking environment. We can’t see you anymore. You’re not you, that’s a shame. From a marketing point of view, I’m not sure it makes sense to act this way.
“People always tell me that English is international. I answer that English as a language, yes, but not as a slogan, not as a trademark. »
He also cites the success of Cirque du Soleil and IKEA, whose items are named in Swedish. And what about Volkswagen with its Das Auto in German ?
In this regard, Mr. Binette recognizes that a name in French can sometimes help you stand out.
But sometimes, it can give a bit of a local feel. Investors are not looking to invest in local projects, they want to invest in projects that they will sell everywhere on the planet and which will be easily understandable.
Louis-Félix Binette, general director of the Quebec Innovation Accelerator Movement
“Do we want entrepreneurs to be defenders of the French language or do we want them to succeed in making money, in exporting Quebec genius around the world? I am more in favor of the second option, he adds. I’m a Francophile, but at some point, in business, it’s the customer who is right. »
For Mario Polèse, professor emeritus at the National Institute of Scientific Research, the question is rather whether giving a name in English or in another language is a good marketing strategy. It’s really on a case-by-case basis, he says.
“English is no guarantee of success,” he said. You can go bankrupt in English just as you can go bankrupt in Italian. »