Local Language Cards

Local Language Cards explore how simple, physical artifacts can support language learning and intercultural adaptation within live, in-person conversation.

Rather than treating language learning as an individual, screen-based activity, this project examines how shared material objects can mediate interaction, reduce social friction, and invite reciprocal exchange between locals and visitors.

The cards function as situated, embodied interventions that reintroduce place-based knowledge into conversation without fragmenting attention.

Local Language Cards serve as the analog intervention layer of the Local Conversation Studio program.

Where earlier components generate evidence (Learning from Oaxaca), analytic structure (AI-QA), and reference material (Local Knowledge Cache), the cards test how those insights behave when returned to live social interaction.

They operate as shared objects inside conversation, not reference aids used beside it, allowing knowledge to be negotiated collaboratively rather than consumed privately.

Language support tools must operate within the flow of conversation.

Most existing tools are screen-based, which fragments attention and redirects focus away from the human interlocutor. Fieldwork in Oaxaca indicated that phone use during conversation is often perceived as a signal of withdrawal or disinterest.

As a result, any viable intervention in this context must be analog, portable, and socially acceptable, supporting partial knowledge and hesitation rather than demanding immediate fluency.

The project was guided by three core constraints:

1. Physical, not digital
   Accessible without devices, batteries, or connectivity, and socially acceptable during conversation.

2. Bilingual
   English and Spanish as primary languages, with Indigenous terms included where culturally relevant.

3. Place-based
   Focused on language and usage specific to Oaxaca de Juárez rather than generic Spanish instruction.

Two distinct paper-based interventions were developed, each serving a different interactional purpose.

Glossary Guides

Small, bilingual reference cards designed for in-the-moment use during everyday interactions, such as at markets, restaurants, or language exchanges.

They surface locally relevant terms and phrases without dominating attention, and are intended to invite correction, elaboration, or teaching by the other speaker.

Card sets include market, restaurant, greeting, and festival contexts.

Card Game Prototype (“Lingua”)

A separate prototype explores language learning as a social learning dynamic rather than a reference task.

Lingua is a cooperative card game designed for language-exchange meetups. Players build phrases together in response to contextual prompts, and usage is judged collaboratively by peers based on appropriateness rather than correctness.

This format encourages risk-taking, participation, and conversation rather than memorization.

To support iteration and scale without manual redesign, the cards were generated through a programmatic production pipeline.

Structured knowledge claims were drawn from the Local Knowledge Cache and rendered into print-ready layouts via a Python-based scripting system. Layouts were code-defined, enabling rapid global changes across card sets while preserving local specificity.

Evaluation combined situated testing of the Glossary Guides with exploratory simulation for the Lingua card game. The goal was not formal measurement but to understand how material design, regional language variation, and gameplay structure shaped interaction.

Glossary Guides — Situated Testing

Glossary Guide cards were tested with 10 participants during language-exchange meetups. Feedback surfaced three recurring themes:

Vocabulary accuracy
Participants corrected several terms and definitions. For example, “Tamale Oaxaqueño” was identified as inaccurate locally - Oaxacans typically say simply tamales. These corrections informed revisions toward locally grounded phrasing.

Regional expectations
A visitor from Puebla highlighted intra-Mexico variation after ordering an empanada and receiving a plated dish rather than the small turnover common in Puebla. This underscored that language adaptation is not only for international visitors; regional Mexican differences also shape interpretation.

Contested traditions
Participants noted that tejate, traditionally mixed by hand, is not universally embraced even among Oaxacans. This feedback emphasized that “local knowledge” and norms are heterogeneous, and cards must represent disagreement and variation rather than singular authority.

These sessions revealed gaps in vocabulary, framing, and cultural assumptions, guiding iterative updates to the card set.

Lingua Card Game — Simulation-Based Evaluation & Situated play-testing

The Lingua card game was evaluated through agent-based modeling (ABM) using approximately 8,600 simulated games across three phases in a MESA framework with 10 heuristic strategies.

Early simulations showed a competitive “Finisher” strategy dominating at a 72% win rate by exploiting others’ phrase-building — a free-rider dynamic that discouraged cooperative contribution. Introducing starter credit to reward phrase initiation reduced Finisher dominance to 51.3% and allowed cooperative strategies to emerge. Game length increased from ~8 to ~22 turns after parameter changes.

No formal human playtesting with the Lingua game has yet occurred. Direct comparison of gameplay modes, learning transfer, and social dynamics remains future work.

1. Materiality changes interaction

Participants consistently preferred paper cards over phones. Physical artifacts lowered the social cost of correction and encouraged locals to engage as teachers.

The card acted as a shared third object — a point of triangulated attention that reduced embarrassment and supported collaborative meaning-making during conversation.

2. Language is local, contested, and regionally specific

Testing revealed strong regional variation even among Mexican participants. Terms like tamales and empanada carry different meanings and expectations across regions, while practices such as tejate preparation are interpreted differently even within Oaxaca.

These findings reinforce that locally situated review is essential; vocabulary cannot be treated as universally stable even within a single language.

3. Cooperative interaction may outperform competition for language learning

Two independent signals point toward cooperative mechanics:

• Simulation: Competitive play produced free-rider dominance (Finisher strategy at 72% win rate). Adjustments that rewarded collaboration reduced dominance and enabled more balanced play.
• Situated observation: Competitive framing in intercultural settings appeared to raise the social cost of public error, particularly for beginners or unequal proficiency groups.

These are convergent indicators rather than controlled evidence. Cooperative vs competitive modes have not yet been compared with human players, and whether cooperation improves learning outcomes remains an open research question.

1. Field-test cards in additional language-exchange settings
2. Refine designs based on situated feedback
3. Collaborate with local artists on final artwork
4. Print on native plant-fiber paper from San Agustín Etla
5. Finalize cooperative game rules informed by playtesting

Local Language Cards sit at the interface between abstract knowledge and lived interaction.

• Upstream:
  Content is drawn from the Local Knowledge Cache, which provides grounded claims and usage constraints.

• Downstream:
  Feedback from card use reveals gaps and misalignments in the knowledge base, feeding corrections back into the cache.

This bidirectional loop treats use itself as a form of validation.