Writing twice about everything

There are many forms of bilingual blogs. Some will post entries in alternance between the two languages. Others will mix languages inside the same entry. And some rare ones will write every entry in both languages. Guess which one is the most difficult…

Writing an entry in two languages takes about twice the time, sometimes more when you need to double check some translations. For articles about politics, because I often try to find references in the original language, it’s often even longer. Ideally I’d translate everything I write. Unfortunately I’m not doing that simply because I’m generally eager to move on to something else once I’m finished writing.

And so this is the compromise: or I write less, and less spontaneously, and every one of my entries are available in the two languages; or I write more while neglecting more often to do a translation. It never is an easy decision.

Note that while my native language is French, I do not always write in French first and then translate. I’m writing this paragraph in English first for example because while translating the rest of this entry I thought it was laking an explanation on my methodology. I often use the translation phase to improve my text both in French and in English. But alas, it just makes it even more time-consuming and removes what’s left of spontaneousness.

Currently, there is more entries in French than in English on this weblog. There are unilingual articles in both languages however: the one about WordPress Text Flow for instance is available only in English. And others entries on Canadian or Quebec’s politics (like all my « Questions d’élection » series) are only available in French.