Re: Cultural Issue with the Foot Logo

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

On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 9:01 AM, Gudmund Areskoug
<gudmundpublic gmail com> wrote:
> Petr Kovar skrev:
>>
>> "Theppitak Karoonboonyanan" <thep linux thai net>, Sun, 2 Nov 2008
>> 02:10:32
>> +0700:
>>
>>> On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 1:34 AM, Petr Kovar <pmkovar gnome org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "Theppitak Karoonboonyanan" <thep linux thai net>, Sat, 1 Nov 2008
>>>> 14:00:06 +0700:
>>>>
>>>>> Let me add another difference between the direct logo localization
>>>>> and the icon theming methods.
>>>>>
>>>>> Many Thai users don't like to use Thai translation. This is a popular
>>>>> taste, despite how much translation effort and quality assurance has
>>>>> been done. And that's why I put lower priority on translation than
>>>>> infrastructure development. (I joined the team after having done enough
>>>>> progress on GTK+, Pango, etc.)
>>>>>
>>>>> And by this practice, the logo localization will have limited effect,
>>>>> while theming still allows Thai people who choose English locale to
>>>>> change the logo.
>>>>>
>>>>> In summary, I'd propose icon theming + GNOME recognition of the
>>>>> secondary logo.
>>>>
>>>> Let me ask you, those Thai people with such a non-Thai-locale taste
>>>> likely have a better understanding of English or Western culture,
>>>> right? (At least that's what I suppose.) So the foot logo shouldn't be
>>>> a big problem for them then? Please correct me if I'm wrong here.
>>>
>>> Nope.The taste is popular just because software are badly translated
>>> in general. And people feel more happy with original English terms
>>> than guessing the translators' whim on choosing inconsistent
>>> translated terms. Many are full with typos or misinterpretations, for
>>> example. Kind of bad impression. And that habit is not changed when
>>> they use GNOME, despite our heavy QA.
>>>
>>> There is nothing to do with English skill nor familiarity with Western
>>> cultures.
>>
>> 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.

Sort of sad to learn that as a translator, right?

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