One more point, because you used the word "literate" (this is getting more and more off topic now, anyway):
Let's not forget that whatever is discussed here refers to those who read and write English well enough to participate.

I don't have statistics at hand, but I'd roughly guess that while 100% of the people i know manage to order a beer and a burger in English when abroad, only 30% would be able to read this forum (=find help and useful information here) and only 5%-10% would be able to actively participate.

This is relevant if we discuss the "how representative is this community and its council?"-topic: Markets are different in each country, consumers react differently, and an online community that uses English only will never represent the needs of all users worldwide, simply because too many participants from English speaking territories distort the image.

So we find that the people here on ITT and on maemo.org are only a subset of active and engaged users. You may have folks blogging about their tablets in Italian or gathering in whatever Spanish forum we never heard of... And we can't help it. We'll have to take what's there, do what's feasible. Then, in the future, find mechanisms to invite those who want to participate, but don't speak English. Which will make the community and its council more representative, but still will not help with those who just happily browse the web with their tablets and never even think of going to a forum. They are, as you say, bound to use other feedback channels.