French readers notice typography. A missing space before a question mark, English quotation marks in a French sentence or a decimal point where a comma belongs immediately signals that a text was translated carelessly, or not by a professional at all. For translators working between English and French, getting these details right is part of the job, but checking them manually on every page is tedious and error-prone.
Computer-assisted translation software can handle much of this automatically. The key is knowing which rules matter and making sure your software is configured to apply them.
Spaces before punctuation
In European French, a non-breaking space precedes the colon, semicolon, exclamation mark and question mark, and sits inside guillemets. In Canadian French, conventions differ slightly: a non-breaking space is used before the colon, while the semicolon, exclamation mark and question mark are often written without one. A text intended for Quebec and a text intended for Paris therefore need different settings.
Good translation software lets you define punctuation rules per target locale and flags deviations during quality checks. It also inserts non-breaking spaces rather than ordinary ones, which prevents a lone question mark from wrapping onto the next line in the final layout.
Quotation marks and apostrophes
French uses guillemets « » rather than English double quotes. Nested quotations may use different marks. Apostrophes should normally be typographic rather than straight. When text is pasted from emails or converted from PDFs, straight quotes and apostrophes creep in. Automated checks catch them in seconds and can often correct them in one pass.
Numbers, currencies and units
French writes 1 234,56 where English writes 1,234.56, with a space as the thousands separator and a comma for decimals. Currency symbols usually follow the amount: 25 € rather than €25. Percentages carry a space before the sign. Dates follow day, month, year order. Each of these rules can be checked automatically, and number mismatches between source and target are flagged so that no figure is accidentally altered.
Capitalisation conventions
English capitalises many words in titles, days, months and nationalities that French writes in lower case. A literal transfer produces "Lundi 3 Mars" where French expects "lundi 3 mars", or "les Français" correctly capitalised as a noun but "la cuisine française" in lower case as an adjective. Quality profiles can flag suspicious capitalisation patterns for review.
Terminology for France and Canada
Vocabulary also differs. Quebec prefers "courriel" where France often uses "e-mail", "fin de semaine" rather than "week-end", and many official terms in law and administration are specific to each jurisdiction. Maintaining separate entries in a termbase for fr-FR and fr-CA ensures that translators see the right preferred term for each client and market.
For government, legal and healthcare clients in Canada, using the approved institutional terminology is often a contractual requirement, not a stylistic choice.
Choosing software that respects French
Not all software handles these conventions equally well. Some offer only generic punctuation checks designed for English. Others support locale-specific rules out of the box. When comparing options, a practical guide to choosing a cat translation tool can help you structure the test: run a real French project through each candidate and count how many typographic issues the automated checks catch, and how many false alarms they raise.
A check that floods you with false positives is almost as unhelpful as no check at all. Look for configurable rules you can tune per client.
Certified and official translations
For certified translations of birth certificates, diplomas and legal documents from French into English, the priorities shift slightly. Accuracy of names, dates and numbers comes first, followed by layout that mirrors the original. Translation memory helps here too, because official forms repeat. Once the fixed text of a French civil registry extract has been translated, it can be reused for the next client with the same document type.
When the documents in question are contracts, court orders or immigration filings, typography alone is not enough. These assignments call for dedicated legal translation services with proven experience in evidentiary standards and certified workflows. A legal specialist combines flawless formatting with the terminology precision that authorities demand. For translators, this niche rewards both linguistic care and technical rigour.
Working in both directions
Many translators work both from and into French. Each direction needs its own settings. English typography rules apply to English targets, with no space before punctuation and English quotation marks. Separate project templates for each direction prevent rules from one language leaking into the other, a common source of embarrassing errors.
Inclusive writing and style guides
Many French-speaking organisations now publish style guides that address inclusive writing, preferred forms of address and specific spelling choices. Some favour the middle dot in forms like « étudiant·e·s », others prefer neutral rewording. Whatever a client chooses, storing those preferences as project instructions and termbase entries ensures every translator applies the same approach. Quality checks can even flag forms that contradict the client's guide.
Polish that clients notice
Clients may not know the rules behind French typography, but they recognise a polished text. Consistent spacing, correct punctuation and appropriate regional vocabulary make a translation feel native. Letting software handle the mechanical checks frees translators to focus on style and meaning, which is where human expertise matters most.