If you are conducting a basic search and are familiar with only one of our official languages (English or French), you can include equivalent terms in the other official language so that you can broaden your search. The bilingual search feature allows you to choose current equivalent terms in either English or French from subject categories provided by the Government of Canada's TERMIUM Plus®, linguistic data bank.
Example - your search criterion is "milk" and you want to include the French equivalent but you do not know what this is.
Step 1 - you must first enter "milk" in the "Enter search criteria" field.
Step 2 - In the "Improved Bilingual Search Capability" section, place a check mark in the "Use Bilingual Search?" check box if you are using this feature.
Selecting this option will display a "Bilingual search" language selection dropdown and a notice explaining the selection process.
Step 3 - after reading the notice, select from the language options in the "Bilingual search" language selection dropdown i.e. "English to French" and click on the "Search" button. You will be presented with a page advising that you will link to TERMIUM Plus® and that you alone will be responsible for the criteria selected for your search.
Step 4 - if you select "No", you will be returned to the Basic Search page. If you select "Yes", you will be presented with a set of subject categories relevant to the word "milk" with appropriate French terms to choose from.
Step 5 - you will select from the list of available terms and click on "Continue". This will add your selected terms to the original search criterion "milk" in the "Enter search criteria" field and start the search in the Canadian Patents Database.
Important advice:
