Multi-language domain strategy crossroad

[Bragg]

I've come to a crossroads with a multilingual domain strategy.

Most of you know, Canada has two official languages; English & French. I'm trying to decide on two domain structures to handle languages:

1. Create sub-directory folders for both languages:

www.sitename.ca/en/

www.sitename.ca/fr/

Take into account that all page names will be in their respective language.

or

2. Create a single sub-directory folder for French only:

www.sitename.ca

www.sitename.ca/fr/

I'm leaning towards Option #2 because English is our target and want to give those pages more "weight" rather than pushing them down another level (flatter site structure for primary pages). Yes, I could also have all French pages at the root but I think having them a) in one sub-directory is easier to manage and b) SE (specifically Google) likes the division better for languages. I'm just not sure if there's a point to doing it for English too.

Note: There'll be several hundred pages for each language.

What's best practice (of course) and is there a difference if any....or was this just long winded for nothing?

Thanks for any insights.

[RyanKent]

Either method would work fine. The first choice is more scalable if there is any chance your site will grow, but since you are using a .ca domain it appears Canada is your sole focus.

Keep in mind when you refer to a flatter structure for primary pages, Google is only looking at the site's virtual structure. It does not matter at all how you choose to organize your files on disk. A home page of mysite.com is the exact same as mysite.com/en/ with respect to "flatness". What matters is how many clicks it takes to reach the page.

If you have a home page of mysite.com and then you have to click the "en" text to reach mysite.com/en/, then you are 1 level deeper.

[Bragg]

Thanks Ryan for the promptness and I guessed as much that there was no real difference. Ya, "flatter" may not have been the best word.

Cheers