Following my last entry, I’m going to start off with some shocking and/or interesting statistics of the ever changing fabric of our American quilt.  While there are many demographics of immigrants and non-native English speakers in the US, this entry will focus primarily on the rapidly growing Hispanic population in the US.

• Young people 24 and under represent 35% of all Hispanic online users.  (Emarketer)
• The US Hispanic market that is online has grown from 15.7 million to 20.9 million in the last 5 years alone.  (Emarketer)
• “The 47 million-plus Hispanic population in the U.S. accounts for 15% of the total U.S. population and have spending power of $850 billion. (University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth)
• From 2000 to 2006, Hispanic purchasing power in the US climbed more than 63%, to $798 billion. (University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth)
• Latinos and other minorities were responsible for 85% of US population in the last 10 years (Adage)

It’s clear to see that the Hispanic market in the US is nothing to ignore.  There is an ever growing percentage of Americans that are looking for your messages, your products, and your services: in Spanish.  Making this connection isn’t easy, but it’s not as hard as you might think; it’s a learning process.

However, if we’re learning anything at all, it’s that Google translate isn’t going to get us there.  A translation is not just a translation; reaching out to the Hispanic market takes more.  It means understanding cultural nuances, sensitivities, humor and colloquialisms. In addition, Spanish phrases and idiomatic expressions are not consistent among all Spanish speaking countries.

Esther Novak, CEO, VanguardComm hits the nail on the head here when she says “Those who are anxious to tap the market but inexperienced at reaching it must not make the easy mistake of “selling to the Hispanic bloc” — the assumption that a Cuban thinks like a Mexican thinks like a Puerto Rican. Each of the 22 Latino nationalities has its own cultural nuances, idioms and assimilation. Businesses need to understand these factors, which include a connection to home country; multi-generational households; mistrust of institutions; a belief in fate; respect for the elderly; the influence of community leaders; the role of faith; and the upholding of tradition, celebrations, humor and cultural icons.”

Here I have a couple examples of a good and bad way to approach the situation:

Here’s a failed attempt by AT&T.

The telecommunications giant AT&T created a series of marketing ads in Puerto Rico where a wife tells her husband to go downstairs and call Mary because they are running late.   Seems innocent enough, right? Oh no!  In Puerto Rico this behavior was seen as offensive, as many wives would never order their husbands in this way nor would they think it’s necessary to call regarding their late arrival.

This campaign proved to be ineffective and failed to resonate with the consumer on a personal and cultural level.   It did not draw on cultural experiences nor connect with the consumer.  Instead the poor translation became distracting and was merely an advertisement gone awry.

Here’s a successful approach by The Home Depot.

When I say successful, I mean excellent.  The Home Depot has successfully integrated a variety of ways to approach the Hispanic population.  They have shown a strong commitment by providing bilingual signage on all of their products, offering bilingual workshops and how-to-clinics, as well as tips and tools on Spanish directed Youtube site.  What’s more, they sponsor Major League Soccer as well as the Mexican National soccer club.  They clearly understand the cultural importance of soccer to their Hispanic clients and show their loyalty by supporting their teams.  By taking this multi-faceted approach The Home Depot is able to connect with their customers not only in Spanish but also to their cultural needs and wants.

Bottom line is this: It is important to address this rapidly growing and changing market in the correct way; not only in their own language but also within the context of their local culture.  Working with a translation agency is an excellent way to bring your message full circle by providing cultural understanding.  They can work with you directly to understand what you are trying to do and figuring out the best ways to approach your translation. Concisely expressing your message in the tone and voice of a native speaker is priceless.

On May 2^nd 2011, the world was cheering, waving flags, climbing trees, singing and dancing in the streets.Why?…You might ask. Well, because Osama bin Laden, the most wanted man in the world had been brutally murdered.  Now, let’s back up a little bit and take a trip down south….way down south, to a city that stole my heart from the first time I stepped off the airplane: Buenos Aires, Argentina. During all this madness dealing with Osama… the conspiracy theories, was it wrong or was it right, was this justified, etc., etc., while in the midst of this craziness, there were a few well educated philosophers, writers, poets and intellectuals gathered around small antique cafes throughout the beautiful city of Buenos Aires celebrating the life of one of their own. Celebrating the life of someone who has been through what they have been through, seen what they had seen, but most importantly…lived through the political chaos that plagued Buenos Aires for so many years, and was brave enough to open the world’s eyes to what was going on in this majestic city and country.

Ernesto Sábato was born on June 24, 1911 in a small province right outside Buenos Aires, but it would not take him long at all to start making his mark on this world. In his early teens he became involved in the effervescent intellectual atmosphere of the Argentinean capital as it grew vertiginously and entered the modern world. He would soon discover the growing communist movement, but deep down he always knew that theses teachings were not for him. During his teen years Ernesto was living in La Plata, about 45 minutes away from the capital of Buenos Aires. Here he got his first glimpse of the meat slaughtering and packaging business that was ramped in Argentina. It disgusted Ernesto to see how these animals and how the workers in these plants were treated, living in slum conditions, no running water…these things deeply disturbed Ernesto. It was at this point Ernesto discovered his talent of bringing modern day truths to the surface for the public to see. There is no better way of doing this besides writing. So yes, that’s exactly what he did.

During Ernesto’s day, spreading his word outside of the Spanish speaking community was virtually impossible. Now, thanks to human translation services, the world can see through this visionary’s eyes. Ernesto exposed the harsh realities of what was going on in Argentina. He showed through his writings how thousands of Argentine youths were simply disappearing because they chose to speak out against the government. Ernesto wrote for human rights. He wrote for the betterment of humanity. He had a dream, and through translations, the world can now read these same dreams. The next time you are browsing through your local bookstore, pick up a copy of One and the Universe, The Tunnel, Men and Gears, or my personal favorite Before the End.

Ernesto Sábato, winner of the Cervantes literary prize, winner of virtually every single Hispanic writing award, an accomplished painter, but most importantly…a human rights activist. Maybe you have never heard of him, but now because of translations you can know him as I have learned to know him. You will not be disappointed. You can find his books published in almost every major language spoken.

For those businesses that want to test the potential of their products or services with the US Spanish market, those ready to employ a more proactive approach, or those fully committed to their Spanish speaking consumers, I recommend translating part, if not all, of your website into Spanish and developing a search friendly website. This process that will entail at least the following basic steps.

Page Translation

The Spanish Market in the US is a fastest growing consumer market and the largest online growth sector of new Internet users. It is estimated that the number of Hispanic Internet users will surge between now and 2012 and surpass 29 million.  Chicago, for example, expects Hispanics to account for virtually all of the city’s population growth over the next decade. It is good idea to invest in a Hispanic-focused web site and SEO to tap into a market that will surely increase your business.

Page Optimization

Keyword Analysis: the study of the most frequently used keywords entered into a search engine by the users. Keyword research consists of finding as many keywords as possible relating to your web site, the most valuable keywords and analyzing the strength of competitors for potential keywords.

Coding & Content Optimization: editing a web site’s content and code in order to improve visibility within one or more search engines. The content should be properly structured with the use of Heading tags bold containing relevant keywords. Search-engines will only index a limited amount of text in HTML tags and using too many keywords will dilute the focus.

URL Revision (file names, keywords): in dynamic website URL’s contain a lot of special character (E.g. @, #, $, % and more…) that is not recognize/supported by the search engine. In that case rewrite search engine friendly URL.

META Tags (title, description, keywords): elements that are used to include information about your web page. Search engines use the text they find on the page as a description so it is very important that the first header and sentence describe the contents.

You need to have at least 1 page in Spanish optimized with your Spanish keywords and meta tags in order to be allowed to submit your site on Spanish search engines.

When translating your webpage choose a professional translation agency with translators that are native speakers and have a good command of both languages, English and Spanish. Aslo,  your SEO service provider should be active in multilingual/multicultural SEO communities; understand the differences in markets in the USA, Latin America and Spain; knows your target market.  For more information visit Spanish Website Translation .