Lost in translation: Ye Olde Orchard sign targeted by language watchdog

The owner says he was told by an OQLF agent that new legislation coming into force in 2025 will make their current name illegal and they'll be forced to translate it to French.

For 27 years, a scripted sign made to look like a parchment with the words “Ye Olde Orchard” has been inviting people into a pub in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG).

It’s known as the spot to grab a Guinness or two, just like in Ireland.

But after a complaint was filed with the French language watchdog, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) has told the pub its sign is no longer good enough.

It needs to add a French descriptor next to the words.

“And then the agent on my file gave me a heads-up that as of 2025, that would change,” said Joseph Pilotte, co-owner of Orchard Group.

Pilotte says he was told by an OQLF agent that new legislation coming into force in 2025 will make their current name illegal and they’ll be forced to translate it to French.

“Which then set off obviously some alarms of like, ‘Well, we don’t want to change our sign now, to then have to do it again in two years,'” Pilotte explained.

Since then, Pilotte says he’s been going back and forth with the OQLF trying to find a solution.