In my kitchen, I have a product called, in English, No-Chicken Broth. (Q: That's just what I need! Where do I get it? A: Noah's Natural Foods, or the organic section of some Dominion stores.) However, the French side of the box says "Bouillon à Saveur de Poulet." I'll admit that it's quite possible I'm missing some small connotation, but it looks to me like there's nothing in the French name that says that there's no meat. The French name just says "chicken-flavoured broth," while the English name places greater emphasis on the fact that there is no meat in the product. Your Anglophone chicken-soup-craving vegetarian may well grab the product off the shelf based on the name alone, confident that something called No-Chicken Broth will contain no meat. But the Francophone chicken-soup-craving vegetarian has to notice that it says "Bouillon à Saveur de Poulet," not "Bouillon de Poulet". "Une échappatoire?" pense-t-elle, and then hoping against hope she goes to read the ingredient list and sees that yes, there is NO CHICKEN! And there was much rejoicing! But the Francophone vegetarian needs to get to that point of desperation where she's reading the ingredient lists in a desperate hope that she can enjoy some comfy soup without sacrificing her principles. Meanwhile, the Anglophone need only glance at the product name as she scans the shelves, allowing the product to catch the eye of the anglo veggie who isn't actively craving chicken soup, and make her think "Hey, chicken soup! I haven't had that since I was a kid!"
I wonder why they chose this translation in French, as opposed to something along the lines of "bouillon sans poulet." Is it a suboptimal translation, or is there some connotation/marketing thing for the French audience that I, as an anglo, don't know about?
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