Crossing Cultures
In order to be a player and to participate fully in the international community, publishers first need to master the nuances of their own market—and publish content according to the standards expected of high-quality publications that appeal to their primary audiences—before they can seriously consider reaching out to foreign markets. Assuming that this is has been accomplished, publishers should design their products from the outset to be acceptable (preferably desirable) to an international audience. This can be done by following a few fundamental editorial and design principles or guidelines:
Using the Right Markers (Frames of Reference)
In any written work, whenever we are introducing a new topic or subject, trying to make a point as clear as possible, or drawing a comparison between disparate entities, we rely on the persuasive power of familiar examples, anecdotes, or references. Colorful comparisons, as well as references to famous people or events, naturally come from our own experiences and culture, but they sometimes run the risk of being too limited to our own frame of reference to have the necessary impact when adapted or translated into another culture or context. Mistakes of this nature can be made in a variety of situations and at any level.
Here is one well-known example of the limitations of frame of reference. Appearing on a talk show, former President Jimmy Carter described an experience he had at a speaking engagement in Tokyo. He opened his speech with a joke, waited for the translation, and was surprised at how big of a laugh he got; the joke was funny, but not that funny. After the speech, Carter asked the translator what he said exactly to make the joke translate so well into Japanese. The translator said no one in the room would have understood the joke, so he said to the audience: “President Carter just told a very funny joke; please laugh.”
We rely on what we think are very common or familiar references to illustrate a concept or to make a point, but if we intend to reach a global audience and make ourselves understood without additional explanation, we should make our examples as universal as possible. Even when including examples for our own audiences and within our own culture, references can diminish in value over time, perhaps more quickly than we might think. We may assume that our frames of reference are timeless, but this is not always the case, even in what may seem to be the most indelible examples. Around 30 years ago, I was talking to a colleague, who was only slightly younger than I was, about famous songwriters, and I mentioned Paul McCartney. She stopped me and asked: “Do you mean from the band ‘Wings’?”
Seventy years ago, the Ad Council in the U.S. created an anthropomorphic bear that became an iconic character, arguably on par with, say, Mickey Mouse, Superman, and Spiderman. “Smokey Bear” was synonymous with the slogan “Only you can prevent wildfires.” I grew up with Smokey Bear (as the years went by, he was often incorrectly referred to as Smokey the Bear) and he was ubiquitous: on billboards, TV, and radio; in post offices and comic books; and even on milk cartons. For decades, all across the country, he may in fact have served as a friendly and memorable symbol for the prevention of forest fires, but few people outside of North America are familiar with Smokey.
If an American publisher is issuing a book on forest preservation and the risks of fire due to climate change, a topic with intense global appeal, Smokey Bear, as appealing and familiar as he is to many, should probably not appear in it—at least not without context—even though he would immediately come to mind to an American audience. Only you can prevent cross-cultural miscommunication.
