Ethical Implications of Intercultural Audiences

1. By Lisa Heitzman Presented by Derek Woodward Ethical Implications of Intercultural Audiences

2. Outline • Introduction • Ideas of Cultural Awareness • Approaches • Conclusion

3. A Global Market • Many of the products we use today come from different places all over the world • To produce these items, it has become ever more important to communicate across different languages and cultures • Technical writers must be aware of this when drafting their documents so as not to cause strife when presenting ideas

4. Cultural Awareness • Heitzman argues that technical writers must be taught cultural awareness • Its importance lies in understanding how one’s writing can reflect different social and cultural values • This can translate into how well a document is received by a foreign audience • There are different methods that writers can use depending upon the situation at hand

5. Universal Standard Myth • One way in which instructions can be communicated across languages is the use of visuals, or pictures • When using method, since different colors can mean different things, black and white is usually used • Although method appears to not have any drawbacks, it can as in the case of Ikea • When shipping products to Muslim countries, Ikea showed mostly men in their instructions which lead to the prime minister of Norway to label them “sexist”

6. English as Global Language • English is seen as an emerging global language due to its popularity in business and science • It must be emphasized that although English is being spoken more, this does not mean it is superior to all other languages • When using a single language to address an international audience, this is known as internationalization

7. Clarity • Clarity is often emphasized in technical writing • When writing to international audience, Plain Style is used which promotes the simplest of words choosen • This can backfire in the form of the audience not understanding certain idioms • Heintzman suggests rather than clarity, we should focus on “the astuteness of interpretation and translation” which focuses on getting the meaning across with as little “noise” as possible

8. Localization and Translation • The author defines localization as the writing toward a specific culture as opposed to a universal one • Translation is a method of localization which, in essence, is the converting of documents to a specific language • For technical writers, this is learning how to write to translators which involves: • Carefully selecting word choices (such as metaphors) • Providing translators with contextual information • Chunking information

9. Dangers of Localization • Localization can backfire if one tries to group different cultures as one • In extreme cases, can lead to myth and stereotyping • It can also get expensive to translate documents into many types of languages • It is important to be able to strike a balance between over generalizing an audience and becoming to specific when translating documents

10. Conclusion • It is important to teach cultural awareness and be aware of different methods to address it • These include internationalization or universalist approach, localization, and generalization • Knowing when to use each is important to the technical writer in our vast global market • i.e Airport signs universalist approach vs. a specific product geared to a particular group, localization • We certainly want to be able to communicate universally, but also be aware of the uniqueness of each individual

11. Questions?