If you have a business or company in the United States and are considering investing in Spanish translations, it is important to have access to Hispanic trends, census data, and demographic information. Below are some good resources:

United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Statistics – Information and statistics on the population and economic strength of Hispanics living in the United States.

The Hispanic Population – U.S. Census – United States census data relating to the growing Hispanic population in the U.S.

Hispanic Marketing -United States Hispanic Market – Demographic projections.

Pew Hispanic Center -Research center focused on: demography, economics, education, culture, identity, attitudes, immigration, labor, politics, remittances.

Hispanic Business -Online magazine that offers a variety of business services such as career placement, recruitment services, business research, surveys and advertising.

The United States has long prided itself on being a “melting pot” of different cultures and backgrounds and this becomes especially apparent amidst talk of the different voter demographics and the pledges made to different ethnic groups. Apart from the Spanish translations that I mentioned before on McCain and Obama’s websites, something caught my eye the other day that seemed to be a true sign of the times.

It’s a website (http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/TranslatorsforObama) called Translators for Obama, and it employs a wiki-style approach towards translating Obama’s speeches and important articles already on the web, as well as subtitling and dubbing commercials and audio clips into a number of languages. Members can provide their own translations and information in any language they can. Links to Spanish, Chinese and Arabic translations are all available, plus related content in a myriad of languages. As the site’s creators themselves put it, they are “limited only by the number of languages [their] members know.”

Political parties aside, the most inspirational aspect of this to me is the ability to get a group of translators to unite (pro bono even!) and work together towards contributing something they believe will make a difference.