manus-skills/.kortix/opencode/skills/content/blog-translate/references/cultural-adaptation.md

Cultural Adaptation Profiles

Locale profiles for cultural deep-adaptation. Loaded on demand by blog-localize and by blog-multilingual during the adaptation pass. This file is the single source of truth, do not duplicate it elsewhere.

Each profile covers: address form (formality), example brands and companies to substitute in, currency and pricing conventions, statistics sources to prefer, legal references to swap, CTA tone, and idiom notes.

DACH (Germany, Austria, German-speaking Switzerland)

Locales: de-DE, de-AT, de-CH.

• Formality: B2B and tech: Sie (formal). Lifestyle, gaming, D2C: du (informal). Pick one and use it consistently for the entire post. SaaS for SMB defaults to du; enterprise SaaS defaults to Sie.
• Brand examples to swap to: MediaMarkt, Saturn, Otto, Zalando (retail), Lidl, Aldi (grocery), Deutsche Bank, ING (finance), SAP, Siemens (B2B tech). For Austria: Spar, Hofer, BAWAG. For Swiss: Migros, Coop, UBS.
• Currency: EUR for DE and AT, CHF for CH. Format: 1.234,56 EUR (DE/AT) or CHF 1'234.56 (CH).
• Statistics sources to prefer: Statista (Germany scope), Bitkom, Bundesnetzagentur, Destatis (Statistisches Bundesamt), HWWI, ifo Institut, Bertelsmann Stiftung. Avoid US-only Pew or Nielsen unless explicitly framed as US comparison.
• Legal references to swap: CCPA to DSGVO (GDPR in DACH-speak), FTC to Bundeskartellamt, FCC to Bundesnetzagentur. Accessibility law is jurisdiction-specific: DE BGG, AT BGStG, CH BehiG. Keep ADA when the claim is specifically about US compliance.
• CTA tone: Informational, never imperative. Prefer "Jetzt entdecken", "Mehr erfahren", "Kostenlos testen". Avoid "Buy now", "Sign up today" style. Trust signals (data protection, GDPR compliance) outperform urgency.
• Idiom notes: Compound nouns are normal; don't break them. "Game-changer" becomes "Wendepunkt" or specific concrete claim. "Best practices" stays in English.

Francophone (France, Quebec, Belgium-FR, Switzerland-FR)

Locales: fr-FR, fr-CA, fr-BE, fr-CH.

• Formality: Default vous for almost all professional content. tu only for B2C lifestyle aimed at under-30 audiences. France business culture is markedly more formal than US.
• Brand examples to swap to: Carrefour, Auchan, Leclerc, FNAC (retail/electronics), Orange, SFR (telecom), BNP Paribas, Société Générale (finance), Dassault, Capgemini (B2B tech). Quebec: Hydro-Québec, Desjardins, Couche-Tard.
• Currency: EUR for fr-FR and fr-BE, CHF for fr-CH, CAD for fr-CA. Format: 1 234,56 EUR (NBSP as thousands separator). Quebec writes CAD as 1 234,56 $ with the symbol after.
• Statistics sources to prefer: INSEE, Médiamétrie, IFOP, BVA, ARCOM (formerly CSA), Statistique Canada (for fr-CA), Eurostat (for fr-FR European context).
• Legal references to swap: CCPA / GDPR -> RGPD, FTC -> DGCCRF, ADA -> loi du 11 février 2005. Quebec adds Loi 25 (privacy) and Loi 96 (French language).
• CTA tone: Polite, restrained, value-focused. "Découvrez", "En savoir plus", "Essayer gratuitement". Avoid "Achetez maintenant" unless e-commerce flash-sale context. Quebec accepts slightly more direct CTAs than France.
• Idiom notes: "Workflow" stays English in tech contexts. "Brand" often translated as "marque". Be careful with Quebec vs. France vocabulary differences (e.g., "courriel" vs. "email", "fin de semaine" vs. "weekend").

Hispanic (Spain vs. LATAM)

Hispanic markets split sharply. Do not conflate es-ES with es-MX or generic es. If a user writes es, ask which market or require explicit neutral Spanish mode.

Spain (es-ES)

• Formality: tú for B2C and most digital content. usted only for highly formal B2B (banking, legal). "Vosotros" exists; LATAM doesn't use it.
• Brand examples: El Corte Inglés, Mercadona, Carrefour España (retail), Telefónica/Movistar, Vodafone España (telecom), Santander, BBVA (finance), Inditex/Zara, Iberdrola (B2B).
• Currency: EUR. Format: 1.234,56 EUR.
• Sources: INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística), CIS, IAB Spain, Comscore España, Eurostat.
• Legal: RGPD (GDPR), AEPD (data protection authority), CNMC (competition), Ley General de Publicidad.
• CTAs: Direct but warm. "Descubre", "Empieza ahora", "Pruébalo gratis".

LATAM (Mexico es-MX, Argentina es-AR, Colombia es-CO)

• Formality: tú general default. Argentina uses vos (voseo). Colombia mixes tú and usted depending on region. Mexico is consistently tú.
• Brand examples (MX): Walmart México, Liverpool, Coppel, Telcel, BBVA México, Bimbo. (AR): Mercado Libre, Banco Galicia. (CO): Éxito, Bancolombia, Rappi.
• Currency: Local. MXN ($1,234.56 MXN), ARS ($1.234,56), COP ($1.234 COP). Use whole-peso COP examples unless a source explicitly uses centavos. Always specify the currency code; bare $ is ambiguous.
• Sources: INEGI (MX), DANE (CO), INDEC (AR), Comscore LATAM, IAB LATAM.
• Legal: LFPDPPP (MX), Ley 1581 (CO), Ley 25.326 (AR). PROFECO (MX consumer protection).
• CTAs: Warm, direct, relationship-building. "Descubre cómo", "Únete gratis", "Empieza hoy".

Japanese (Japan, ja-JP)

• Formality registers: Three to know. desu/masu (polite, default for most published content). de aru (declarative, used in serious essays, white papers). Casual forms (da, plain verbs) for blog posts aimed at consumer audiences. Pick one register and stay in it.
• Honorifics: Use -san when referring to people. Companies take sama in formal contact contexts but not in editorial body.
• Brand examples: Aeon, Ito-Yokado, Don Quijote (retail), Rakuten, Mercari (e-commerce), NTT Docomo, SoftBank (telecom), MUFG, SMBC (finance), Sony, Toyota, Hitachi (B2B), LINE, PayPay (payments).
• Currency: Yen, no decimals. Prefer 1,234円 in body copy or JPY 1,234 in finance-style contexts.
• Sources: Statistics Bureau of Japan (Soumusho), METI, Nikkei research, Dentsu reports, Macromill, Recruit Works Institute, Mitsubishi Research.
• Legal: APPI (Act on Protection of Personal Information), JFTC (Japan Fair Trade Commission), METI guidelines.
• CTAs: Soft, indirect, group-oriented. Avoid imperative tone. Prefer phrases that emphasize benefit, ease, or community ("everyone is using it" angles). Hard urgency converts poorly.
• Idiom notes: English loanwords (katakana) are common in tech copy but should be reserved for established terms. Avoid inventing new katakana words. Numbered lists work well; rhetorical questions are less common than in EN.

Custom-Locale Template

When the target locale lacks a profile here, build one inline. Required fields:

locale: <code>           # e.g. nl-NL, pl-PL, sv-SE, tr-TR
formality:
  default: <formal|informal|mixed>
  notes: <when to switch>
brand_examples:
  retail: [..., ...]
  finance: [..., ...]
  telecom: [..., ...]
  b2b_tech: [..., ...]
currency:
  code: <ISO 4217>
  format: <example: 1 234,56 PLN>
sources_preferred:
  - <local statistics body>
  - <local industry research>
legal_references:
  privacy: <local equivalent of GDPR/CCPA>
  competition: <regulator>
  advertising: <regulator>
cta_tone:
  style: <imperative|informational|polite|warm>
  avoid: [...]
idiom_notes: <quirks the translator must respect>

Quick research pass to fill the template:

1. Search [country] official statistics agency for the sources block.
2. Search [country] data protection authority for the legal block.
3. Pull the top 3 retailers and top 3 banks from a recent business press article.
4. Read 2-3 native blog posts in the target market to calibrate formality.default and cta_tone.style.

Save custom locale profiles outside this shared skill reference, for example in a project-local .claude/blog-locale-profiles/<locale>.md file or in the task output. Do not append runtime profiles to this file.

Profile Selection Logic

Used by blog-localize (Phase 1) and blog-multilingual (Phase 4):

1. Exact locale match (de-CH, fr-CA, es-MX).
2. Language-only fallback only for unambiguous editorial markets (de, fr, ja). Treat es, pt, zh, and any language spanning materially different legal, currency, or script markets as ambiguous unless the user requests explicit neutral mode.
3. Regional grouping (e.g., DACH for any de-*, LATAM for any es-* other than es-ES).
4. Custom-locale template if no match.