2015 年年中，营销人员开始重新思考以千禧一代为核心的商业计划。跟《广告时代》杂志如出一辙，他们认为，相较于年龄，激发激情才是吸引顾客的关键。正如众多营销顾问在《纽约时报》文章中所称，那些为迎合充满奇思妙想的年轻一代而制定的计划同样能满足老年人的需求。例如，有一家美国高档连锁杂货店计划针对千禧一代打造一个更便宜、更简洁的子品牌，而波士顿咨询公司 (Boston Consulting Group) 的一位合伙人对此评论道："X 世代和婴儿潮一代的购物者对那些以高价出售各种令人困惑的商品的老旧、杂乱的商店挺满意，甚至于更喜欢这种商店。" 最重要的是，在 2016 年及以后，营销人员将从对千禧一代的痴迷中走出来。

Then in mid-2015 marketers began rethinking their Millennial-driven business plans. Like Ad Age, they determined that appealing to passions – rather than age – were the key to attracting customers. And like the many marketing consultants cited in a New York Times article, they saw that plans to cater to the whims of this younger generation also meet the needs of older folk. For example, in response to the plans of an upscale American grocery store chain to create a cheaper, less cluttered sub-brand for Millennials, a Boston Consulting Group partner commented, "[I guess they're saying that] Gen X and baby boomer shoppers are fine with or even prefer old, cluttered stores that sell a confusing array of stuff at high prices." The bottom line is that in 2016 and beyond, marketers will pull back from their Millennial obsession.

但是，关于不同世代之间行为差异和偏好的基本问题仍然意义重大，应予纳入营销计划。CSA 语言服务咨询公司 (CSA Research) 想知道的是年龄是否会影响外文网站访问者的购物行为。例如，千禧一代、他们的 X 世代长辈以及在 20 世纪中期出生的父母和祖父母对这些网站的反应是否不同？这三代人对于在线获取母语内容是否有不同的期望？

But the basic question about behavioral differences and preferences among different generations remains a valid one and should factor into marketing plans. What we at CSA Research wondered was whether age affected the buying behavior of people visiting foreign-language websites. For example, do Millennials, their Gen X elders, and parents and grandparents born way back in the mid-20th century react to such websites differently? Do these three generations have different expectations about getting online content in their language?

为了寻找这些问题的答案，我们调用了 CSA Research 的"看不懂就不会买"数据集。我们在十个国家用各国当地语言对 3,002 名受访者进行了调查，这些国家均为非英语国家，包括巴西、中国、埃及、法国、德国、印尼、日本、俄罗斯、西班牙和土耳其。我们按照年龄将受访者分为四个群体：千禧一代（18-35 岁）；X 世代（36-50 岁）；世纪中期世代（51-69 岁）；成熟世代（70 岁及以上）。然后根据调查所问的每一个问题分析了这四个群体的行为。我们从中发现了许多有价值的相关性，但在分年龄段针对语言这一要素对客户体验的影响所开展的分析中，有两个发现尤为突出：

We turned to CSA Research "Can't Read, Won't Buy" dataset to find the answers. It consists of 3,002 respondents to a 10-nation survey that we conducted in the language of each country (all non-English-speaking, including Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Spain, and Turkey). We divided the respondents into four clusters that we labeled by age: Millennial (ages 18 to 35); Generation X (36-50); Mid-Century (51-69); and Mature (70 and older). Then we analyzed the behaviors of these four groups for each of the questions that we asked in our survey. We discovered many valuable correlations, but two findings from our age-based analysis of the role of language in the customer experience stand out:

所有年龄段的消费者都更偏爱使用自己的母语。十国样本中的购物者在绝大部分客户体验中都喜欢使用自己的母语提供信息。如果没有母语支持，他们会倾向于选择其他产品或者放弃使用当前网站。

Consumers of all ages prefer their own language. Buyers from our 10-nation sample favor information in their language throughout most of the customer experience. Without support for their mother tongue, they're likely to choose another product or abandon a website.

千禧一代对英语的容忍度较高，但大多数人还是更愿意使用自己的母语。与其他年龄段相比，18-35 岁这一群体在客户体验中对英语的接受程度更高。我们的分析表明，不同世代对英语的接受程度呈线性分布，千禧一代对英语内容的容忍度最高，其次是 X 世代、世纪中期世代和成熟世代。然而，尽管千禧一代受访者声称自己有较高的英语水平，并且比年长的受访者更能容忍英语内容，但仍有相当一部分人更喜欢阅读母语信息。Millennials are tolerant of English, but most still want their own language. The 18-to-35-year-old cadre is more accepting of English across the customer experience than any other age group. Our analysis shows a fairly linear distribution among the different generations, with Millennials most tolerant of content in English, followed by Gen-X, Mid-Century, and Mature respondents. However, while the Millennial respondents claim a high degree of English-language competence and tolerate content in that language more than their older counterparts do, a substantial margin still prefers reading information in their own language.

在营销人员考虑年龄问题时，可以将这些发现作为指导。语言对所有年龄段的人都至关重要。所有想要把产品卖给另一种语言使用者的公司都应当牢记，如果顾客看不懂产品信息，他们购买该产品的可能性就会大大降低。CSA Research 自 2002 年以来开展的所有 B2C 和 B2B 基础研究都强调了以母语向人们提供信息的重要性。要想接触到所有年龄段的目标受众，就必须做到以下几点：1) 获取所需的市场情报，以确定哪种语言对您的潜在购买者至关重要；2) 酌情进行翻译和本地化；3) 针对每个市场的重要受众变量提供有针对性的内容。

These findings should guide marketers as they consider the age question. Language matters to people of all ages. Any company that wants to sell to anyone who speaks another language should remember that if they can't read the information about a product, they're much less likely to buy it. All of CSA Research's business-to-consumer and business-to-business primary research since 2002 underscores the importance of making information available to people in their native tongue. To reach your target audience of any age: 1) Get the market intelligence you need to determine which language matters to your potential buyers; 2) translate and localize as appropriate; and 3) target content to the audience variables that make sense for each market.

作者：Donald A. DePalma
首席研究员，专注于市场趋势研究、商业模型以及商业战略。
原文标题： Does Age Affect Foreign Language Tolerance?
翻译：采用机器翻译+人工编辑（MTPE）的流程处理，如有错误，请参照原文。