L10n:WorldReady/Identifying Cultural Differences
One of the keys to the World Ready Program will be to identify and share cultural differences, so products and campaigns can be designed and tuned not only to avoid problems, but to inspire and engage people in many regions around the world.
The key in this effort will be for our Mozilla community members to gather and share information about cultural preferences and differences in fast, efficient, interesting ways, and to help connect them to the important and desirable attributes of Mozilla and Firefox that we want to raise awareness around.
One exercise might be to rank the importance of different Firefox features such as Priviacy & Security, Speed & Efficiency, Creativity and Customizability, Simplicity in Design as a way of focusing on particular aspects of Firefox within a region or culture.
The book "Stuff Parisians Like" by Oliver Maguy offers some insightful perspectives about how Parisians and French people view the world, and how they might differ from other cultures, in both an educational and entertaining way. We could use this as model for gather and sharing cultural differences. Reading the book also offers some insight into how the design of an effective marketing campaign might be quite different than on designed for a US market.
Some of the topics categories that would be interesting to explore in each culture might include the following.
What language(s) do they speak, and/or aspire to speak.
What languages and terms are intermixed/subsituted into their language
e.g. interjections of english into french and german... examples...
What are interesting meanings put behind english words. (p2)
What words, phrases, or concepts don't exist or a have extreme difficulty in translation or localization. For example the English term "sharing" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharing ) when used in the context of giving something, or joint use or ownership of something. In English there are many definitions like this that have common understanding. In German, there is difficulty in translation of joint ownership kinds of terms, and more definitions that where there is my property, your property and property or space that is divided between us. See for example http://www.vocabulix.com/translation/german-english/teilen.html and http://www.vocabulix.com/translation/german/share.html
Where do people aspire to live or travel?
What forms of Art and Music are most desired and enjoyed?
What kinds of things are considered 'not cool', inappropriate, or offensive?
What kinds of fashion are liked/disliked?
What kinds of physical activities, sports, and events are popular/liked/disliked?
Who are the people that have the most influence on popular art, music, fashion, buisiness, politics, sports, and other topics
What are some impressions about importance of family / marrige /
What are some impressions about importance of fame / fortune in the culture
What are some impressions about importance of politics / economy
What are some things or sensitive areas that people feel guilty about?
What are some things or sensitive areas that people know about, but don't quite understand or are not discussed?
What are some areas of specialization, expertise, understanding, or insights that people in the locale may have that they believe are superior to other cultures and regions?
What are some areas of that are commonly believed to be weakness of the culture.
What are some things that people consider being indulgent?
What are some things that people consider by desirable? -from the past history in their own culture? -borrowed from other cultures?
What are the cultural views on general diet, specific foods and drinks.
What foods/drinks that are enjoyed?
What foods/drinks that are disliked?
