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In Quebec, the French speaking part of Canada, it is usual (and seems to be part of Bill 101 about the use of French Language in Quebec) to translate titles of movies and TV show into French. For example, Lost is known as Perdus, or How I met your mother becomes Comment je l'ai rencontre, etc...

But, at least according to Wikipedia-fr, The Big Bang Theory keeps its English title in Quebec. This is corroborated by this article from The Huffington Post Quebec.

My question: is there any given (by the authors, by the network broadcasting the show in Quebec) reason explaining that the The Big Bang Theory is not called La theorie du Big Bang au Quebec?

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  • It doesn't have the same "ring" to it? :P
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
    Dec 12, 2014 at 12:10
  • @Paulster2: I didn't get it.
    – Taladris
    Dec 12, 2014 at 12:38
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    My bad. I am not a native English speaker, so I didn't understand the joke.
    – Taladris
    Dec 12, 2014 at 13:02
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    Is there a translation for the actual theory of the Big Bang, the scientific term? Maybe it works like "internet" and other technical terms?
    – DisgruntledGoat
    Dec 12, 2014 at 15:29
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    @DisgruntledGoat: In France French, we use the English expression Big Bang. Wikipedia does not give any translation in Canadian French, so I guess they use also Big Bang. No "Grande explosion" or "Grand Boum". Still remains the problem of not translating "theory".
    – Taladris
    Dec 13, 2014 at 14:48

1 Answer 1

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I don't actually see anything in the Wikipedia article about Bill 101 (or in a brief perusal of the actual document) that requires film/tv/book titles (or even the series itself) to be translated into French (if you can find a specific section that does, please post it). I'm guessing this falls under Canadian free speech.

In fact, I can't even find a "view in French" option on the website for CTV (the company that airs The Big Bang Theory)... the entire site is in English and doesn't have a way to access it in French... even the Montreal section of City TV (the network that aired How I Met Your Mother) is in English and the title of the show is listed that way.

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  • you can watch it in french here canalplus.fr/c-series/c-the-big-bang-theory/…
    – MLavoie
    Mar 17, 2016 at 9:42
  • The question is about Quebec, but since I live in France I can give some extra information. The show itself is translated into french. Which is a pity because Raj's accent in french is far from being as funny as in english. Also Kripke's speech impairment is much less remarkable. The title of the show, however, is still "The Big Bang Theory", no attempt to translate at all. Though of course, "Big Bang" is never translated at all, even in "serious" science.
    – Alfred
    Oct 6, 2019 at 23:17

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