Intercultural Usability: How Language Affects

Intercultural Usability: How Language Affects the Comparing, Analyzing and Reporting of Usability Evaluation Results

The work of Karasawa and Suga (date unknown) entitled: "Retention and Transmission of Socially Shared Beliefs: The Role of Linguistic Abstraction in Stereotypic Communication" relates that stereotypes have been studied through the lens of social cognition as it relates to psychological processes operating within the individual perceivers." Research has demonstrated that inductive processes take place and that concrete behavioral information associated with different group members through synthesis results in abstract representations of group traits. (Karasawa and Suga, date unknown, paraphrased) Ford and Kotze (date unknown) write in the work entitled: "Designing Usable Interfaces with Cultural Dimensions" that as many arguments exist in opposition to as in support of the accommodation of culture into user interface design." On one side it is argued that "it is necessary to match the subjective cultural profile of the interface to the cultural profile of the users in order to enhance usability and performance." (date unknown) On the other hand it is argued that "the interface design characteristics required to design interfaces to accommodate one side of four of the five cultural dimensions proposed by Hofsted will result in an increase in usability for all users, irrespective of the users' cultural profile." (Ford and Kotze, date unknown) The work of Spencer-Rodgers and McGovern (2002) entitled: "Attitudes Toward the Culturally Different: The Role of Intercultural Communication Barriers, Affective Responses, Consensual Stereotypes and Perceived Threat" report that testing was conducted for the purpose of examining the psychological impact of intercultural communication barriers on intergroup attitudes. It is reported that it was indicated by regression analyses indicated that "....intercultural communication emotions were strongly and uniquely related to prejudice toward a culturally diverse outgroup: foreign students." (Spencer-Rodgers and McGovern, 2002)