Re: Multi-lingual user guides

[Jack Shaw <jsh -at- SOFTWARE-AG -dot- DE>]

Larry Grinnell's cases for and against a multilingual
user guide for a Motorola pager seem thorough. But there
could be a moot aspect to the whole exercise--both because
that wheel has already been invented, and the apparent fact
that Larry and compatriots are predisposed to a solution.

First, the point of Americans being xenophobic about getting
a multilingual user book with an "American" product seems
to do a disservice to the average American user. That the latter
views such a multilingual book as some sort of "gol' durn
furrin' thang" is a bit doubtful. At a time when America is
looking to sell abroad, such a book is a sure sign that the
"truly American" product finds acceptance abroad as a world-class
product. I as a consumer tend to view that as reassuring--assuming
of course that the pager is _truly_ American manufacture and not just
assembly work imported from Taiwan...hmm? What's on the ID plate
("Made in USA", or "Assembled...) tells more than the book ever will.

And the argument of printing expenses becomes negligible with
a large copy count (say, over 10,000). Page count differences
of 10 vs. 40 or 20 vs. 80 can be false economics, since costs
are usually figured per copy, which descend rapidly above 10,000.
If your bid solicitation for printing and binding is truly
cost-effective and not a holdover from some good ol' boy/"we've
gone with that printer for years" scenario, you can find a printer
that can work wonders with costs if you shop around and spec.
the job correctly. But if "business as usual" prevails, well...

And when you have to consider supporting four different versions
and the inevitable scrap costs associated with at least part
of the shelf stock, the argument of increased cost loses even
more weight. And Portugese books can't be used with pagers
sent to a French market. You lose flexibility with both the
audience limitations and the ability to relocate final
packaged inventories--that is, your wholesalers do. It might
be worth something in some markets to be able to relocate 1000
pagers from a French to a Spanish vendor...something you can't
do if the books in the boxes (and the boxes themselves) are
monolingual.

But this all smacks of a spitting contest between/among manufact.,
marketing, tech. pubs, et al. And even if there isn't a power
play going on, think on the fact that other similarly marketed
products (CB transcievers, portable radios, Walkpersons, etc.)
have already done the cost justification on this issue. So
why reinvent the wheel? If a Walkperson comes with a multilingual
book, do you really think Sony didn't look for the most
cost-effective solution before going that way?

It would seem that more money could be saved by cutting down
on the packaging (styrofoam/foilpack/etc.) than in haggling
over the proven efficacy of multilingual manuals, IMVHO.

Jack Shaw
jsh -at- software-ag -dot- de

My opinions, reflecting my own ignorance only.