Low and High Context Cultures a Video Summary

I'm my last 2 posts I summarized these topics in writing. However I just found this informative little video explaining low and high context cultures and thought it may help you better understand. So For you viewing pleasure:

Low Context Culture

Low context cultures tend to be the opposite of their high context counter parts. If your target market is that of a low context culture they will tend to:

- Be logical, linear and action oriented 

- Prefer individual initiative, self assertion and personal achievement

- Place less emphasis of tradition, ceremony and social rules 

- Emphasizes on words, straight forwardness and openness 

- be impatient, informal and literal

Examples of low context cultures:

Australian                           North American 

English                               German 

Irish                                   New Zealand 

Scandinavian

Are you apart of one of the cultures mentioned in the last two posts? From your own personal experience do you agree with the generalizations of low and high context cultures? Why or why not?


Source: 
Business Communication: Process and Product, 6th Cdn. Edition

High Context Cultures

When creating your culturally customized website knowing if your target market is a part of a high or low-context culture is crucial to the development of your website. Knowing this will determine the content of your website. If your target market is of a high context culture they will:

-          Be rational, intuitive and competitive

-          Prefer group values, duties and decisions

-          Prefer greater formality in dress, speech and social interaction

-          Rely on non-verbal cues and the total picture to communicate

Examples of high context cultures include:

African                  Arab

Chinese                Greek

Japanese             Korean

Italian 

Source: 
Business Communication: Process and Product, 6th Cdn. Edition

Keeping It Simple.....Simply Hilarious

When creating Slogans for products and companies it is very important to avoid using slang, vague expression, and to use easily translated words. Now a day’s most browsers allow the user to translate any website into the language of their choosing. The internet and television has allowed for easier and larger scale marketing across cultures. However measures to ensure smooth transition were not implemented right away. This led to rather funny and awkwardly translated slogans. Here are some of my personal favourites:


 When KFC opened their first Beijing restaurant in 1987 they translated their slogan “Finger-lickin good” in Chinese to “We’ll Eat Your Fingers Off”.

Coors Light breweries obviously didn't hire a local translator when they had their slogan at the time “Turn it loose!” translated to “Suffer from Diarrhoea” in Spanish.

I guess in 2006 some major companies still weren't picking up on the importance of careful translation. That was the year Clairol decided to market their popular “mist stick” in Germany. By not changing the name they were now selling the “manure stick” to the Germans. Bet they couldn't wait to wrap their hair around that.

                                               

 Everyone has to remember the "Got Milk" ads. Well as long as you’re not new to North America you will. However you may never forget them if you are from or lived in South America at the time. Especially since there the commercials translated to ask the question “are you lactating?”


In 1970 the Ford Company just didn't understand why the "Pinto" wasn't selling in Brazil. That was untill they finally learned that "Pinto" was a term in Brazilian slang that meant "male genitalia".

There are numerous examples such as the ones above. Do you have a favourite you heard of that's not listed here? Cause I would love to hear about it.


Source: http://www.oddee.com/item_97732.aspx

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Mmmmm Everyone's Lovin' It

 A perfect example of a company that has devoted money and time to culturally customizing their websites is McDonalds. McDonalds operates in 119 countries around the world on six continents with a total of 33,000 restaurants. 1,400 of those restaurants are in Canada. Take a moment to compare some of McDonald’s high context culture websites to some of their low context culture websites by clicking on the countries below. There is a very noticeable difference. You will also find that the points noted in my earlier blog “Tech Talk: A Text Book Summary” stating what should be evident on each type are reflected on the sites.

           High Context Cultures                         Low Context Cultures

                  Italy                                   Germany
                Japan                                    Canada                 
                Spain                                   Australia




Did you notice a difference in the high context culture websites compared to the lows? If so what was the difference that you found most evident?
                                        

Gestures Across Cultures

I feel the following video entitled “gestures across cultures” relates to the cultural customization of websites through iconography. Icons use symbols that represent different things and have diverse meaning across cultures. Quite often you will see different gestures being used as symbols for icons. For example you may visit a website that asks a question of you and when you respond correctly and icon which depicts a hand making the ok symbol or giving the thumbs up may appear. This video will explain just how careful one should be when using different hand gestures in different parts of the world. It will also give some insight as to the origins of these gestures. Hand jestures and their possible offensive nature are just one reason why images should be tested with local residences before going live with your new culturally customized website. 

 Well, I hope you enjoyed it as I found it pretty interesting. Do you know of any gestures that have non offensive meaning but may get you in trouble when used in other parts of the world?

Perception

People from different cultures see things differently. The easiest way to change how someone perceives your website is to change the colors you use. Below is a chart that shows how people from different places perceive the same colors.

COLOR	USA	China	India	Egypt	Japan
Red	Danger Love Stop	Good fortune Luck Joy	Luck Fury Masculine	Death	Anger Danger
Orange	Confident Dependable Corporate	Fortune Luck Joy	Sacred (the Color Saffron)	Virtue Faith Truth	Future Youth Energy
Yellow	Coward Joy Hope	Wealth Earth Royal	Celebration	Mourning	Grace Nobility
Green	Spring Money New	Health Prosperity Harmony	Romance New Harvest	Happiness Prosperity	Eternal life
Blue	Confident Dependability Corporate	Heavenly Clouds	Mourning Disgust Chilling	Virtue Faith Truth	Villainy
Purple	Royalty Imagination	Royalty	Unhappiness	Virtue	Wealth
Black	Funeral Death Evil	Heaven Neutral High Quality	Evil	Death Evil
White	Purity Peace Holy	Mourning	Fun Serenity Harmony	Joy	Purity Holiness

Source: http://blog.globalizationpartners.com/culturally-customized-website.aspx