LSW-WebDesign

Part 3 - Language Barriers

The last as promised is not really a disability in the usual sense at all. It is just who you are. I have no person in mind in this case, just general examples.

Here in Alaska we have, for me, a surprisingly large number of Filipinos. Many of these speak with tainted to extreme accents and have any where from Good to poor English skills. This has to be considered on state web sites.

States Like Texas, Florida and California have large populations of Spanish speakers; these populations do not stop there but lesson the farther north one goes. Parts of Canada, like Toronto for instance have large populations of Vietnamese as I understand it. Then there is my favorite, Berlin Germany.

Berlin has the largest Turkish population outside of Turkey’s capitol Istanbul, often jokingly called Turkey’s second largest city. These Turks are some newer immigrants, but most are second and third generation of those Turks who came to rebuild Berlin after WWII when most of Germany’s men were imprisoned or dead. They stayed and built up lives in Berlin, but never really adopted German Culture. It is not uncommon to have third generation Turks, German by Birth who by High school still does not speak German worth mentioning. Parents living in the city for 50 years and still do not speak German. This means that all government buildings and web sites as well as Hospitals etc. have Turkish and German languages signs and sites.

Here I speak only of those people who do not speak the language of their current country well.

What of those outside, I speak German… but not Turkish or Hebrew for instance. Clearly I need an English version. others may understand some of the language. Danish is close to German so I can “get the jist of a page”… if it is in simple and basic Danish.

So not only should you consider disabilities in your content… keep in mind non-native speakers, both in country as well as foreign visitors, remember the internet is International. Just because I live in Alaska does not mean I won’t have a customer in Utah or Luxemburg.

Lastly to keep in mind is techno speak. You beginners know what I mean… we toss around things like user agent, validation, CSS, includes… and we understand it second nature… but you do not. So keep in mind that people not in your immediate culture may not understand what you mean either, a gardener can speak of things I don’t understand and won’t understand me. Just look at the Military! Danny Deveto in “Renaissance man” getting directions from an MP, to hang a left at the PX, to the motor pool with the APC’s and then stop at the something or other and look for the room marked CEO and ask the Spec 4 for the LT., that is not quite how it went but you get the point. Remember to keep those not in or new to your “circle” in mind so you can write text that either is clear to them or take the time to explain terms you use.

These people are not disabled, but they benefit from accessible sites the same way and for the same reason cognitive disorder sufferers do… We, all of us, have trouble understanding things you may not have issues with. There are no real great tricks to making sites accessible to us. So keep the distractions down and keep the content fairly simple… writing a certain way may make you think you sound professional, but does no good if people do not know what you’re saying.

Plain English Campaign & Free Guides

Read Part 1: Naturally occurring

Read Part 2: Illness or Accident