THE NEED FOR AUDIENCE ANALYSIS IS PARAMOUNT when creating instructional materials for use in other countries. Courses designed in North America and imported to other nations often carry American values and cultural assumptions which may not be shared by another country.

Even though English has become an international language, the use of American slang and idioms can be disastrous as seen in the video below. Doing your cultural homework can help to ensure that the message received by the learner is the message you intended to send.

American Express Commercial
featuring Jerry Seinfeld.
American Express Co. Copyright 1997

Software manufacturers like Microsoft and Adobe have recognized this, and include a choice of 14 different variations of spoken English for use in their programs.

Instructional designers need to include a language and cultural exploration as part of any audience analysis and needs assessment when creating new instructional materials, and become aware of any implicit cultural or social bias contained in the content of existing courses when adapting them to other languages and cultures.

There are numerous sources of information on various cultures around the world. Books written for business people or vacation travelers can be a quick reference guide on cultural norms. Often these books will include some stereotypes associated with a particular culture, but this can be helpful because most cultural stereotypes have at least some basis in fact. Many countries have web pages about their cultural norms and things you expect in their country. Some good sources for starting research include:

• Chamber of Commerce. com
• Global Workshop.com
• Applied Anthropology
  

These are the nominees for the Chevy Nova Award. This is given out in honor of the General Motors' fiasco in trying to market this car in Central and South America. In Spanish "No va" means, "it doesn't go."

1. The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?"

2. Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

3. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."

4. Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "Manure Stick."

5. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the labels of what's inside, since many people can't read.

6. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.

7. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato" (la papa).

8. Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.

9. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela," meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax," depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokou kole", translating into "happiness in the mouth."

10. Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."

11. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." The company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant!"

12. When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish!

You don't have to become a cultural anthropologist or an ethnographer to create effective and enjoyable instructional materials for a another culture. Just take some time to become familiar with the audience, and be open to their cultural norms and biases.

Charles Hurley
Graduate Student
SDSU Educational Technology