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> But graphical UIs are mature and we all need to acquire a vocabulary for these, so that information is conveyed across national and linguistic barriers.

Or we could just translate the text?

Colors and pictures aren’t exactly free of cultural baggage, either.

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yes, e.g. the version of Windows 3.x and accompanying office suite that I used as a child had German words next to the icons. The idea of labeling a pictogram with text isn't a concept that suddenly breaks when using a language other than English.

> Colors and pictures aren’t exactly free of cultural baggage, either.

I remember being really confused that I had to click on a picture of a frying pan for "search".

So were you able to learn the skeumorphism eventually and equate the operation with the frying pan?

If I were in E.U. I would be afraid of needing to learn enough of 2 dozen assorted languages vs. learning an icon interface once. It would seem that human languages are not as inclusive or universal as icons.

You can do all the l10n you want, but who translates all of them and keeps current?

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