Filipino to Canadian French: keep the listener’s place in we when choosing on or nous
Kami and tayo establish different groups
A Filipino announcement at a board-game tournament can distinguish what the organizers have prepared from what the organizers and players will do together. Translating both groups simply as we can leave the French reader unsure whether a particular task includes them. The distinction matters when a sentence assigns preparation work rather than invites participation.
Northern Illinois University’s Tagalog lesson defines kami as including the speaker’s group while excluding the listener, and tayo as including both speaker and listener, with possible additional members. Its dialogue changes between a trip described to someone and a later outing that includes that person. For Tagalog-based Filipino, inclusion belongs to the particular reference, rather than permanently to one group throughout an exchange.
French on does not necessarily describe one person
The Office québécois de la langue française explains that on can refer to unspecified people or to one or more identifiable people. In the latter use, an associated adjective or past participle can agree with the represented people. A singular-looking grammatical subject therefore need not reduce a Filipino group to a single person.
For the tournament announcement, first identify the people meant, then choose suitable French phrasing and agreement. If on represents the organizing group, that choice alone does not establish whether the players are included. Nor would replacing it with nous automatically recover the distinction between kami and tayo. The context or an explicit group description may need to carry the membership information.
A conversational announcement and a formal notice can differ in style
OQLF describes on for identified people as especially common in familiar speech and prefers the corresponding personal pronoun in elevated written style. That guidance is relevant to Canadian French without being a claim that this usage exists only in Canada. A spoken welcome and a written notice can use different formulations while assigning exactly the same responsibilities. Changing style should not enlarge the group expected to arrange tables, distribute pieces or explain the rules.
Make any change of group visible
Suppose the organizers first report that they have laid out the games, then invite everyone to choose a table. The first group excludes the addressed players; the second includes them. A French version that leaves one unchanged on referring ambiguously across both clauses can make the players seem responsible for work already completed by the organizers. Naming the organizing team at the relevant point can preserve the distinction without adding a new participant.
OQLF also advises keeping the referent of on stable within a context to avoid ambiguity. Apply that concern to the Filipino source’s actual transitions: do not impose a single group where kami and tayo deliberately differ. A clear Canadian French announcement lets the reader distinguish reported preparation, a shared invitation and any assigned task. The translation can adapt pronouns and register while retaining whether the listener belongs to each group being discussed.
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