Why have a multilingual blog

This post is also available in : French German Italian

Claire had a busy week, and we didn’t manage to visit all our friends because she monopolized the computer. We evoked her lack of time this week, and we again heard the following remarks, more or less directly :
– This blog takes you a great deal of time, and that yield you nothing, why do you do it ?
– Why to tire you to translate your articles ? It would be simpler to mew just in French, no ?
– You do things the hard way for not much…
– Don’t you mind to make mistakes in articles which everybody can see ?
Pixie et Zorro wash
blogpaws_March15Well, yes, a blog takes time, and a multilingual blog even more. And no, we don’t mind to make language mistakes.

We have a blog because we like communicating and sharing. We share a few of us and a little of our knowledge on the everyday life with cats. We also share our crushes for certain products intended for humans or for cats.

We have a multilingual blog because we adore languages, and because we like exchanging with cats of other horizons. We translate ourself our articles. We are not tall travelers, but the knowledge of a language is a first approach of other one and his culture. By visiting blogs of various countries, we perceived differences of culture, sensibility, a vision of cat and an approach of blogging very varied. We even know specific words relative to cats in each language, but those are untranslatable in the others ! And it’s fascinating. We don’t hide that German, English, and Italian are not our mother tongues, and we don’t mind that you correct friendly our most unrefined errors, as when we use a word instead of an other one for example.

This additional effort is widely rewarded by the friendly relations we were able to develop in different parts of the world. Even thousands of kilometers away, several of these relations turned into real friendship : it’s what brought for example Claire, big non-traveler, to jump without hesitating in a plane to England to meet Mr Bumpy‘s mom who was arriving from Australia. It’s only a question of time so that she lands at a BlogPaws conference !

And you, why do you have a blog ?

bloggers map

40 thoughts on “Why have a multilingual blog

  1. Marg

    We think it is great that you do a mulitlingual blog. Sure makes it easier for those of us that don’t speak French.
    We blog for the fun of and it is so great to meet so many good people all over the world. WE have made lots of friends all over the place. You all have a great day.

  2. Kitty Cat Chronicles

    We’ve always admired the fact that you translate your blog into multiple languages! Blogging is such a wonderful and fun way to make friends all over the world. It’s one of our favorite things about it!

  3. da tabbies o trout towne

    pixie & zorro…we thinks itz total lee awesum that ewe take de time two translate yur blog N that Claire can translate her self….we writed sum stuff in Gaelic once…and even in ENGLISH….not “trout” ….then asked de translator app ta turn it into Irish……whoa what a mess…need less ta say we wont due that again 🙂

    N we blog coz we think itz fun; N we enjoy being abe bull ta talk with everree one… frum like everee wear but de moon !!

    we hope Claire can go to blogpaws sum day !! ♥♥♥

  4. Kitties Blue

    Are you surprised to have more followers in the U.S. than anywhere else? Are we more crazy for cats here than in our countries? We are so happy that we can read your blog in English ’cause our Mom can read some French and a little Italian and only knows about four words in German. We love visiting y’all. and would hate not to be able to read your posts. Hugs to Mom Claire and to Pixie and a big kiss from Calista Jo for Zorro! XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

    1. The Swiss Cats

      We’re not really surprised : talking about culture, we noticed that US and English people seem to show more their craziness for kitties than else where, but we love it : Mum feels crazy like many US crazy cat ladies ; furthermore, US are much more bigger than Europe, and speak mainly English. Europe is small and speaks officially more than 20 languages. We met at first many US cat bloggers, and later some French cat bloggers, and more later German cat bloggers. Purrs

  5. Hannah and Lucy

    How wrong we were – we thought you translated into English, French, German and Italian because with living in Switzerland your are surrounded with other languages and so spoke them. Our Mum learned French for 4 years at school and can only remembergreetings, the time and meals!!
    Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

    1. The Swiss Cats

      German and Italian languages are not far away from us (they are spoken in other parts of Switzerland), but we are in the French speaking area, and are surrounded by French language. Mum learned German and English at school, and she learned Italian on the job with a book (a little) and Momo’s grandma (a lot). And she loves to practice ! Purrs

  6. Le Maître de Frimousse

    Can’t comment in German. Apart from a very short list of words, such as Strudle, Stollen… I like to be competent in German so much… Frimousse’s Mistress speak German very well – and Lorraine Franconian, precisely. I can understand Italian but can hardly write a few lines without mistakes. Then, I have to make do with French and English.
    Impossible de mettre des commentaires en allemand. À part Strudle, Stollen… l’allemand m’est étranger, et je le regrette. La Maîtresse de Frimousse parle très bien l’allemand – et surtout le platt. Je comprends l’italien mais difficile d’écrire quelques lignes en italien sans beaucoup d’erreurs. Alors, l’anglais et le français !

  7. Summer

    My human has always thought it was a serious lack in American schooling not to emphasize multilingual skills. If students here are lucky, they learn just one. Never mind learning Cat!

  8. Danielle et =^.^=

    It’s just much easier in French … and with less mistakes !
    The swiss cats have several regular readers in France but maybe Claire doesn’t know precisely where they live.
    I just wanted to say ” hello ” to Claire’s Englishspeaking friends =^.^=

    1. The Swiss Cats

      L’image est une cartographie réalisée par un groupe de blogueurs anglophones dont nous sommes membres, c’est pour cela que la France et l’Allemagne n’ont pas de petits drapeaux 😉 Ronrons
      The image is a cartography realized by a group of English-speaking bloggers of which we are members, that’s why France and Germany have no small flags 😉 Purrs

  9. Dezi and Lexi

    Weez fink Miss Claire be pawsum. Weez know how much time and work is put into writin’ in oone language much less 4. Y’all awe amazin’ kitties. Mommy can sing in a kupple udder languages, but she can’t communcate much past da words she learns fur songs. Hav a pawsum day.

    Luv ya’

    Dezi and Lexi

  10. Flynn

    Claire is very talented to write in four different languages. My mum learned French in school. She can still make herself understood, but has forgotten more than she has remembered over the years. She also went to Switzerland while still at school and learned a little bit of German whilst she was there (Kandersteg, Bernese Oberland.). She can still remember what she learned there.

    1. The Swiss Cats

      We think it’s easier for your mom to remember German words as German is closer to English than French. And French is an awfully difficult language to learn ! Purrs

  11. Canadian Cats

    Claire, Zorro and Pixie, we are very happy your blog is multi-lingual. If you were just in French, we wouldn’t understand you…oh…the odd word. For living in bi-lingual Canada….we would still be at a loss. We blog for the fun of it and to make others laugh and be entertained by the antics of our cats. Meeting nice folk like yourself was a benefit we hadn’t thought of when we first started.

    (((Shoko)))

  12. Austin Towers

    We are full of admiration for you Claire that you can speak and write in so many languages. Sadly those of us to whom English is their first language are very lazy! Mum spent some time in France so knows a bit of French, but not enough!!

  13. Georgia and Julie

    We appreciate the effort Claire puts into this blog and we enjoy coming to visit.
    The fact she does it and does not make us rely on Google translator is pawsome 🙂
    Purrs Georgia and Julie,
    Treasure and JJ

  14. Just Ducky

    It’s fun to have furiends all over the world. We learn to get along better with everyone when we learn about how things are in other places. Mum used to work for a big company and would talk to people all over, China, Japan, Australia, all over Europe. She still stays in contact with some of them. It makes our big old world much smaller.

  15. Ellen Pilch

    That is wonderful that you do a multilingual blog. I am lazy so I just have a translator on mine, but I am sure you get more readers when you take the time like you do.

  16. Penelope

    Most excellent post! I blog because it connects me with a greater community of people who have similar beliefs, likes and or loves to me. There is a kinship and camaraderie that being in a small town I miss. Living in Canada, we do learn French is school, and I can (with help with some words) work my way through a totally French post, but the fact you take the time to put it in English, I appreciate. I also wanted to say, I do read your blog often, but I have a limited amount of time and don’t comment as often as I should,
    Thanks
    Barb (Nellie’s Mom)

  17. Bev Green

    We think your mum is super clever Zorro and Pixie and it must be really hard to do the translating..i feel sad that I miss blogs that have no translate as I am useless…maybe I need to hone my skills 🙂 and we blog because I love meeting such wonderful people and their pets and sharing mine too 🙂 loves Fozziemum xx

  18. Christy Paws

    Great post. Mom says she is always impressed by people who can speak multiple languages. She lived in Japan for a while with a dad in the Navy, Germany for a while with a husband in the army and studied Spanish and French in school. School was way too long ago so she doesn’t remember much French. She remembers only a little more Spanish as she was around that more in southern California. As for Japan and Germany, sadly many people there spoke English making it easy to be lazy. We love meeting folks from all over, like you.

  19. When the cat is away

    A very timely post. When I’m very tired, like today, it’s hard for me to write in English. And I am sometimes wondering why I make the extra effort. (And I’m not even translating my blog, although I could add several languages). I’ve always admired you for doing the extra work.

    However, I realized that it’s good for me to write in English. I’m studying in English, but I’ve never used (written) English in an informal context. My blog is a great informal English class, because academic English is so different. I’d spend less time though if I wrote my blog in Swedish or German.

    I’ve a complicated relationship to English. I speak 6 languages fluently, but I’m most embarrassed about mistakes I make in English. I don’t really know why, maybe it’s because everybody expects me to speak good English? My blog is thus also a personal challenge: to overcome my fear of making mistakes in English.

    Can you relate to these thoughts? Is it easier for you to write “poor German” (your German isn’t bad btw) than doing mistakes in English?

    1. The Swiss Cats

      We think that you imagine everybody expects you to speak good English LOL ! We decided to do our best, and not to care about our mistakes. Your readers feel if you do your best, and forgive you kindly your mistakes, or correct you if it’s a huge one, but always gently. Purrs

      1. When the cat is away

        Haha! There’s something to this,at least online. (In my real life, however, people really expect me to speak good English. I’ve to write scientific articles and give presentations in English.)

  20. Crepes

    We like the multilingual blog here because it’s fun to practice our french and italian reading skills, but it’s nice to know what you’re actually saying in English, too. 🙂 – Crepes.

  21. Jenna Meow

    Congrats to you! I give you so much credit for the time you put into your translations. As an American living in Switzerland, I have had to work so hard to speak French and while I can speak, the idea of writing in French is very intimating to me.

  22. LP

    We appreciate all your hard work in putting into effect a multi-lingual blog! Our Mama (LP ) speaks French and English. French is her first language. Since Canada is a bilingual country there are opportunities to speak both languages but many people don’t speak either or both official languages , French and English.

    We started blogging because we wanted to make friends with people who loved and respected animals as much as we do. After four years of blogging, we have met many wonderful and interesting people from all over the world. It is time consuming to blog, but so well worth the effort to know people like you, are “out” there! 🙂

    Language errors can be made by people who are writing in their maternal tongue which is often the only language they use , so if I see an individual making grammatical errors in a second (or third) language there is never any judgement on my part (or on most people’s part I would imagine!) . I always applaud anyone who is willing to learn something new and who risks making errors. After all, that is how we continue to learn! 🙂

    the critters in the cottage and their Mama Sophie XO

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