Showing posts with label translating VOC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label translating VOC. Show all posts

17 October 2014

Is it mean to mean different things with the same words?

One strength of Modern Blitz QFD® and its powerful voice of customer analysis toolset is a way to more deeply understand the customer's words, since different cultures, regions, age groups, sexes, and so forth can use the same words to mean different things.

The other day, I was listening to the rock opera Tommy by the Who, and in the song Pinball Wizard is the line "…sure plays a mean pinball." Even though I have heard that song a hundred times or more, it suddenly occurred to me, does that mean he plays average pinball or above average pinball?

If you ask us quality specialists, "mean" means average. If you ask us hippies (the album was released in 1969), "mean" means wickedly good, and certainly better than average. Same word, different meaning depending on who says it and in what context.

In his hilarious book Dave Barry Does Japan, the author offers a translation table. My favorite is "We will study your proposal" translated into American English as "We will feed your proposal to a goat."

(we will feed your proposal to a goat)

My point is this, QFD should start with the voice of the customer, but that voice must be translated in order to understand its true meaning.