How Video in Local Languages Drives Behavior Change

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Communication is key, and language is key to communication.  A key tenant of illuminAid’s work is the use of local languages in video.  Studies have shown that sharing a language helps audiences adopt behavior changes, as it reinforces the idea that the information being shared is pertinent to them (Harvin 2013).

The use of local languages comes into play in two key areas:

  1. Video Education Workshops

The Video Education Workshops themselves are conducted in the language common to the area to ensure maximum comprehension and training for all participants. Local Video Trainers often help conduct the lecture portions of the workshop in the national language, while smaller breakout groups within the workshop are conducted in local languages or regional dialects that may be more common to the area. Training materials and lectures are also presented in the local language.

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2. Community Videos

Participants of the Video Education Workshop are encouraged to create the videos in the local dialects of the small village or community where they’ll eventually show the video. This ensures literacy is not a barrier to learning and all community members will understand the video. For example, the national language of Malawi is English, but most videos will be made in Chichewa, a local dialect. By creating a video in Chichewa, the non-governmental organization (NGO) staff ensures rural communities will understand it better and hopefully implement the behavior changes.

Encouraging the videos to be made in local dialects engages both sides of the video making process: those making and showing the video and those watching it. Each side becomes more connected with the other and the lack of a language barrier in the videos fosters trust between the two. 

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Wouldn’t dubbing or subtitling work just as well?

The purpose of the videos created in coordination with illuminAid is to encourage a change in the behavior of the video’s viewer for the better - such as washing hands more often. In order to change their behavior, the viewers must be able to understand and absorb the information provided to them. Due to high illiteracy rates in the countries illuminAid works in, for example, Mali where the literacy rate is only 35.5% in 15 year olds and older (UNESCO), dubbing or subtitling and dubbing may not work at all to transmit information to the audience. 

Communicating through video can change the way people think and the way they do things, but they must be able to understand the information being presented to them in order for this to happen. Using local languages not only provides a sense of trust between the video makers and the audience, but also increases the likelihood that the audience will adopt the changes that the video suggests.

To date, illuminAid workshops have resulted in videos made in Spanish, French, Portugese, Arabic, Amharic, English, and a host of more regional dialetcts. If you’re interested in a workshop for your team or partners -- in your preferred language -- please send us an email!

We’d love to help.


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