Re: Cultural Issue with the Foot Logo

["Theppitak Karoonboonyanan" <thep linux thai net>]

On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 9:34 AM, Theppitak Karoonboonyanan
<thep linux thai net> wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 9:01 AM, Gudmund Areskoug
> <gudmundpublic gmail com> wrote:
>> Petr Kovar skrev:
>>> Sorry, but I can't understand this. In my way of thinking, one has to have
>>> rather good English skills in order to use (American) English locale. And
>>> I'm pretty sure that good English skills necessarily come with some level
>>> of familiarity with Western culture.
>>
>> While on interpreting assignment, I've met factory workers with
>> (otherwise) zero knowledge of Italian operating an assembly line with an
>> Italian UI. The translation the supplier had promised simply never
>> materialized in any usable form, so they made do with what they had.
>>
>> Context is king.
>
> Yes, and what's actually needed to use English UI is just a small set
> of vocabulary. File, New, Open, Edit, Cut, Paste, etc. When long
> messages appear, just find the Next, OK or Cancel button. Never waste
> time to read them. And almost zero user reads manuals/helps.

Oh, let me add another cause: most Thai books and on-line tutorials
teach English commands and use English screenshots. So, newbies
just build their software skill in that environment. But all explanations
are in Thai, of course.

Sometimes, when I write how-to by referencing Thai UI, I still have
to add its English version in parallel, to help them associate to their
knowledge, as well as to get them familiar with Thai UI.

One reason I still work on translation is to aim toward people who
learn to use software without reading books, especially for primary
students who have not learned enough vocabs to grab English
meanings in UI, and senior people who are totally new to computers.
But they seem to be minority currently.

Regards,
-- 
Theppitak Karoonboonyanan
http://linux.thai.net/~thep/