I will explain how a community of immigrants grows strong by borrowing ideas from the “User delight and the guy-from-the-train phenomenon” post by Kathy Sierra:
You know the story: you take the same train to work every day. One Saturday afternoon you’re in a cafe when you spot a familiar face at the next table. “Hey, it’s the guy from the train!” you think, with a smile. Then the guy from the train notices you, and his eyes light up. You start a lively conversation moving from weather to espresso to geopolitical forces. You exchange URLs.
She goes on to explain that finding the guy outside of the usual context creates some sort of bond that licenses you to approach him and how this is a very powerful notion for those trying to create special relationships with their customers, “user delight” in her words.
For us, immigrants, the story goes a little bit different. In our communities of origin everyone speaks the same language so we never pay attention to what others say around us. It’s just background noise. However, when we move away into a country that has a different language we don’t expect to hear ours in public. That’s why when we’re on the train, our mother tongue will resonate so loudly when coming from a stranger and will create a very good opportunity for bridging the gap. More often than not, the brief conversation will lead to a stronger relationship.
Language is probably the most basic element of our culture. We’re wired to recognize it and use it to preserve our cultural heritage. New Immigrants are specially fine tuned to this skill because their own survival often times depends on making quick connections and building their social network. This is why I believe a very important component of this project is the group of migrants that transfer culture from one place to another. Not only are they great ambassadors to what is current in their own cultures, but they are also in a phase where their quest for networking will improve our ability to interest them in this project.
But the rabbit hole goes deeper. I also wanted to take the “user delight” metaphor to explain another aspect of why new immigrants are great observers. As I explained in the post “culture migration”, traveling throws you out of context. For someone exploring a new city (not just visiting, but figuring out) there will be small moments of delight every time something reminds us of what it used to be back home. It is hard to explain if you haven’t experienced it, but it’s very easy to understand if you have. These little moments are the basic aspects that I think would be incredibly useful to document. They remind us of something familiar within our cultures, but are found out of context. Maybe no one else will notice them, but this knowledge is worth a lot to those who are in the process of finding a way around a new city.
Buying a hot dog on the street may be the closest thing to eating “tacos”, specially when you’re scared to go into a restaurant because you don’t speak the language very well. Call it “immigrant delight”.
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