User experience (UX) refers to the complete experience of a person using a product, system or service.

When we talk about UX, we are talking about an opportunity for brands to bring their product to customers all over the world and for translators to provide their services to make this happen. Marketing research can be a useful tool to learn about a new market but it is thanks to a good localisation strategy that you will be able to give a new life to your brand or product in a new country. Culture plays a crucial role and, as we emphasized in our previous post, a good localised UX is your passport to a new country.

Culture in UX

The sad reality is that most people do not take into account or are not aware of how important cultural aspects are in any field and how they might impact their business. In the field of communication, we are forced to insist on the importance of culture, as it is a key aspect of successful communication. We need to ensure that the UX will resonate with our audience visually and content-wise. It is a good idea to send a couple of screenshots to your LSP before starting the project and ask for their initial feedback.

Translation is no longer the conversion of a source text into another language, but the complete adaptation of an entire application experience to another culture. One great example is to create some localised personas to find out a bit more about the background of your potential audience.

As translators, our duty when localising the UX is to carry out a process of research into the culture to which the UX is to be adapted. Brands want to engage with their audience and be perceived as genuine. Users want to perceive naturalness in UX and resonate with them.

The Context

What might happen if we don’t take culture into account when localising UX?

If we translate word for word, apart from getting a poor quality translation, it can lead to misunderstandings between cultures.

Cultural diversity is real. We cannot expect an American and a Chinese person to share the same culture or communicate in the same way.

For example, in meetings, Westerners tend to talk a lot to show off, to demonstrate that they are in control, but the Chinese prioritize being good listeners, and only intervene when they are called upon or feel it is necessary to do so. On the other hand, Americans tend to be more explicit and direct when communicating than the French.

What can be done to avoid these misunderstandings?

As explained in the book The Culture Map, we have to recognize the cultural factors that shape human behaviour and methodically analyse the reasons for that behaviour. Then, adapt these factors to the UX.

“You’re stereotyping”

It is obvious that each person is different. Each person has a different way of thinking and acting, and belonging to the same culture does not mean that everyone is a mirror image of everyone else. However, we are not stereotyping if we talk about cultural differences. Not everyone should be placed in the same category, but it is important to be aware of this category. As much as there is a misperception that assuming that culture has an impact on the way people are is stereotyping, this is wrong, we cannot ignore the culture from which users come. We should not make assumptions about people because of where they come from, but the cultural context is very necessary if we want the business to take off and go international. Both personality and culture are very important, but to achieve a correct UX, we cannot stop person by person to analyse their personality, so focusing on culture would be the most suitable.

The Culture

Culture has an enormous impact on communication, but context must also be taken into account.

By context we mean the set of conditions in which the transmission of the message takes place. Each message can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is conveyed. Regardless of language and culture, it is not the same to convey a message in a political speech as in a bar while drinking a beer with your friends.

If we do not take the context into account, the message can be much more difficult to understand. Context helps us understand why people act the way they do, regardless of the cultural traits we have analysed. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if we do not take context into account, we are ignorant of cultural traits.

The scale of The Culture Map

Once we have made clear the importance of culture and context, the consequences of poor cultural localisation, and the false assumption that by paying attention to cultural traits we are stereotyping, we are going to talk about the method presented in the book The Culture Map to adapt as much as possible to the user’s culture and avoid misunderstandings.

This book presents a scale of eight factors to keep in mind in order to be more effective in communicating with people from different cultures and backgrounds.

Communicating: low context vs. high-context

There are high and low context cultures, and one must be able to differentiate between them in order to achieve good localisation.

In the low context cultures, communication is precise, simple and clear, while in the high context cultures, good communication is sophisticated, nuanced and layered.

Evaluating: direct negative feedback vs indirect negative feedback

There are cultures where it is common to provide negative feedback without being tempered by positive feedback, while in others it is provided in a subtle way, accompanied by positive feedback.

Persuading: principles-first vs. applications-first

There are cultures in which individuals must develop concepts to support or explain their opinion before giving it. In other cultures, an opinion may be given before this support is added.

Leading: egalitarian vs. hierarchical

There are two types of cultures, in the first the organisational structure is flat (the best boss is a peer facilitator), in the second, the organisational structure is multi-level (the best boss is someone who leads the rest).

Deciding: consensual vs. top-down

In some cultures, decisions are made by consensus, in others, however, decisions are made by the person in charge and followed by the rest of the individuals.

Trusting: task-based vs. relationship-based

In the first type of culture, you associate doing the job consistently with being trustworthy, in the second type of culture, you decide whether a person is trustworthy or not based on the personal relationship you have with that person.

Disagreeing: confrontational vs. avoids confrontation

In some cultures, disagreement and debate are seen as positive for the organisation, and will not have a negative impact. In other cultures, on the other hand, confrontation is avoided in order to prevent the negative impact of it.

Scheduling: linear-time vs flexible-time

There are cultures where the focus is on the deadline and compliance with it. On the other hand, in other cultures, punctuality is not so important, but interruptions are acceptable as opportunities arise.

In order to localize correctly and give the users the experience they deserve, it is extremely important to consider their culture and the differences between the culture of the source language and the target language. Culture marks many aspects of our lives, and, without a doubt, communication is one of the most important. Achieving cross-cultural communication is a great milestone for any company that wants to reach its global audience.

Reach out to us today to talk about your UX localization strategy! We are a UK based translation agency with expertise in marketing translation services.