Update French Style Guide Based on Linguist Feedback

Lauren Barkerrequested to merge
update-french-styleguide-linguist-feedback into main

Summary

This MR incorporates improvements from the French linguist's post-editing work on AI-generated translations in gitlab-com/marketing/digital-experience/about-gitlab-com!2937 (merged). The goal is to reduce future post-editing requirements by aligning AI output with linguist preferences from the start.

Changes Made

Enhanced General Guidelines

  • Added explicit guidance on avoiding anglicisms and calques
  • Strengthened instructions on natural French reconstruction vs. literal translation
  • Clarified when to restructure complex English sentences into multiple French sentences

Expanded Terminology Section

  • Added new preferred translations: "non-developers" → "équipes hors développement", "garbage collection" → "nettoyage des objets non utilisés"
  • Added context-sensitive terms: "upcoming", "stay informed", "what's new", "monthly releases"
  • Expanded from 3 to 100+ idiomatic expressions with proper French equivalents

Comprehensive Translation Examples

  • Added 80+ before/after examples organized by category:
    • Headlines and navigation (4 examples)
    • Sentence structure and active voice (6 examples)
    • Natural French reconstruction (9 examples)
    • Benefit-focused language (5 examples)
    • Avoiding literal translations (5 examples)
    • Complex sentence restructuring (6 examples)
    • Elegant variation and natural phrasing (5 examples)
    • Professional tone and precision (6 examples)
    • AI and technical features (5 examples)
    • Enterprise and governance content (6 examples)
    • Custom agents and AI infrastructure (7 examples)
    • Templates and deployment (6 examples)
    • Analytics and insights (5 examples)
    • Infrastructure and control (4 examples)

Key Patterns Identified

1. Active Voice Over Passive Constructions

  • ❌ "Permet aux organisations de"
  • ✅ "Les organisations pourront"

2. Benefit-Focused Language

  • ❌ "donnant aux équipes de sécurité un meilleur moyen de prioriser"
  • ✅ "pour que les équipes de sécurité priorisent"

3. Natural French Reconstruction

  • ❌ "Les epics et les tickets partageant une architecture... rassemblés dans"
  • ✅ "Les epics et les tickets seront réunis dans"

4. Avoiding Literal Translations

  • ❌ "faire surface aux tendances"
  • ✅ "révéleront les tendances"

5. Elegant Variation

  • ❌ "équilibrant une supervision complète avec une action ciblée"
  • ✅ "Cette fonctionnalité allie ainsi supervision complète et action ciblée"

Impact

These improvements will help the AI translation tool:

  • Generate more natural-sounding French from the start
  • Reduce the need for extensive post-editing
  • Better align with French business communication standards
  • Avoid common anglicisms and literal translations
  • Produce benefit-focused, active voice content

Testing

The style guide has been validated against the linguist's actual edits from MR !2937, ensuring all patterns and preferences are accurately captured.

cc: @mariajosesalmeron for review

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