Obviously it is the responsibility of the Account Manager to fuel the relationship by keeping a fluid communication with a client either by e-mails or phone. In this regard, it is important to find out what your client actually prefers, whether it be phone call or e-mail, as some do not want to be called.

Besides following up on a regular basis (i.e. a planned Customer Service), it is also important to have your recurrent clients included in several e-mail campaigns that offer a certain discount. Make sure only to include recurrent clients that haven´t bought a translation project within at least the last quarter, as you do not want to offer a discount to a client that recently purchased one. These e-mail campaigns are typically executed by the Sales/Marketing and/or IT department. If the discount does not work as a trigger to buy, at least the campaign will help you feed your share-of-mind.

Another way of trying to recover customers, is to call them up directly and ask them if they have any translation needs in the near future. This method is a lot more personalized, however you might end up calling them several times, before actually getting in touch with them.

Online visibility nowadays has become a necessity and not only in one language, but your website should be available into several languages, in order to expand your market share. Obviously the website needs to have informative and competitive contents in order to get your leads to leave their information. However, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Adwords are a must when it comes to positioning your website correctly within the internet jungle. This are all tactics that need cooperation between the Marketing and IT Departments.

At the end of the day, it is important to stay positive and to never lose focus. Listen to your clients and make sure their needs are satisfied.

After graduating from college, I decided that I was going to explore the world. The day after graduation I was on an airplane to Amsterdam and have not looked back since. I have lived in over ten different countries over the past twelve years, and in every country I have tried to learn the native language. I failed miserably. I took class after class, went to private tutors, read books on grammar and vocabulary, but for some reason I simply could not seem to even get the basics down. I consider myself to be a fairly intellectual guy. I am a well educated, I am a fast learner, and I am even a certified teacher. So if I am as smart as I think I am, why haven’t I been able to pick up a new language to save my life?

About five years ago I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was the first Spanish speaking country I had ever lived in, and I decided to take a completely different approach to learning. I decided to learn like a baby. Take a second to remember how you learned your native language. You listened to your parents, you watched cartoons, and you were surrounded by people who spoke the language that you would one day grow to master. After pondering on this for a few days, I decided that I would throw my grammar books and private lessons out of the window and start from scratch .
I like to think learning a new language as a pyramid. The base of this pyramid is speaking and listening. Obviously this is the most important part of any language, and the first thing you learn as a child. The middle of this pyramid would be writing and spelling and the last part of the pyramid would be grammar, style and rules. Now, after taking numerous classes and reading countless books, I have noticed that for some strange reason when learning a second language the approach seems to be the exact opposite. Foreign language teachers want to cram your mind with rules, grammar, and spelling before even getting into pronunciation and understanding. This approach makes no sense to me what so ever .

In summary, I became fluent in Spanish in less than two years. No books, no grammar rules, no classes. I just surrounded myself with Spanish speakers, watched movies in Spanish, and spoke in Spanish as much as possible. My advice to anyone learning a new language: Think like a baby!

Subtitling is one option whenever the source language (original narration) is in a language other than the target audience’s language.

Clients typically choose subtitling for media distribution and for broadcasting.

In the US, many times subtitling is used for national broadcasting to reach a broader audience.

First off, when deciding whether or not subtitling is suitable for programming, you must understand your audience.

In this regard, keep in mind that many countries prefer subtitles over dubbing.

If your client is creating a media disc for distribution, and you are already planning on doing voice dubbing, it is recommendable to also include subtitles in the menu, as many viewers prefer this option, especially the deaf and hard of hearing.

Your provider should have the capability to accurately translate and subtitle your programming, delivering the service in various languages directly to DVD and Blu-ray authoring systems, and even to NLE systems. This will secure an accurate delivery of your message to any audience around the world.

Trusted Translations, Inc. uses only the best translators and subtitlers available, who are always not only native speakers of the target language but also perfectly fluent in the source language.

It takes a lot longer to read than to listen, therefore each translation is carefully edited, providing a comfortable reading speed for the viewer while maintaining the meaning and impact of the video. Proper names, technical jargon, and industry terms are researched to ensure proper spelling and undertone.

Trusted Translations, Inc. has the aptitude to take personalized approach to you and your product and deliver a satisfactory final project.

1. Dialect of the Target Language: Our core language pair is English from and into Spanish. What a lot of my clients do not realize is how many dialects of Spanish there actually are. Almost every day, I speak with someone who requests that their documents be translated into Spanish, but when I ask them about a dialect, they have no idea. It then becomes my job to educate the client about these different “flavors” of Spanish. Where will these documents be presented? Who is the target audience? Should I just go with a neutral dialect so my documents will appeal to a broader audience? Every client should ask themselves these questions before beginning a translations project, no matter what the language pair. Dialects vary for every country, and sometimes even in regions of the same country. Documents that are intended for a certain target audience simply would not appeal to many other people who speak the same language, but live in a different country.

2.Turn Around Time: Another important thing that a client will need to know is when they will need to have the translated documents ready to be published, presented, or sent out. I have been involved with so many projects where a client would be so focused on cost that they tend not to mention that the project is a rush. As an Account Manager, I always include the turnaround time in the price quote, but unless I am told that the suggested turnaround time is not within the client’s deadline, that is how many days I will tell the translators they have to complete the project . I remember a certain project when a client approved a fairly large quote, with a turnaround time of 20 business days. We started the project, and less than a week later she calls telling me that they need the documents the next day for a presentation. Moreover, I need to tell her that the 20 business day turnaround time was clearly in the quote she approved. We could have met her deadline if she would have simply let me know it before hand.

DTP stands for Desktop Publishing and it refers to the creation of documents using page layout software. Typically, this includes the combining and rearranging of text and imagery (in case there are any images) through computer software, using Fonts and Graphics of your choice, to produce documents such as Newsletters, Brochures, Manuals, Slide shows, Books, etc.

In today´s business world there are many different types of documents used, such as in the following formats: Word, Excel, Power point, Pdf, Adobe InDesign, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Corel Ventura, QuarkXPress and many more.

When a prospect contacts a Translation Agency to receive a quote for a certain document, any Account Manager typically will ask for the source file, which is the document in which the text had originally been created in. This is important, so that the document does not have to be recreated, which can be very expensive sometimes, depending obviously on the format used.

In a specific example: the prospect has a Manual of Industrial Machinery and would like that Manual translated from English into Latin American Spanish, as the prospect would like to penetrate the Latin American Market. The Manual itself is in an Adobe InDesign format. In order to keep the DTP cost as low as possible, and to assure that the translated Manual looks as similar as possible to the original English Manual, the prospect would have to send the Account Manager the source InDesign file/s, all Fonts and Links to the Images that are contained within the Manual.

Ask yourself this question: Have you structured your life, environment so that you are more likely to accomplish your most important priorities?

For many of us, the answer is no. We start a day with great intentions. But then people start calling and emailing, asking and directing, and soon we can hardly remember what we wanted to focus on in the first place.

Our days begin to look like frenzied, attempts to get traction while making little headway. By the end of a week, we’ve forgotten what it was we were hoping to accomplish at the beginning of the week. And by the end the year, we are frustrated that we haven’t moved forward in our most important priorities.

The solution isn’t willing yourself to focus better. That won’t work. Discipline and self-control are unsustainable because in most of our environments there are too many distractions, too many things other people want us to do, too many opportunities and temptations that draw us away from lives that reflect our true values and priorities. It’s like committing to a diet while working at an ice-cream parlor.

We need to restructure our environments like cleaning our work space, computer, reduce noise, distractions, breaks etc. so we are more likely to move forward on our most important priorities and be able to focus.

Sit down with someone, your manager, a colleague, your partner and show them your to-do list and your calendar for the day. Tell them what you plan to accomplish and how it fits in with your plan for what you want to focus on for the year. Saying it out loud and having another person hear you and reflect back what they hear creates a deeper level of commitment and accountability.

Your success focusing on the things that matter most to you, will only happen in the long term when you create the environment that supports it.

Although the eternal dilemma focuses on the balance between cost and quality, the relationship between the quality of the outcome and the amount of time spent in the processing is also an important point under discussion when it comes to translation projects. Although it may seem more obvious in certain cases than others, I would like to expose my point of view on this respect.

We as people, in the modern world, are in a rush, especially Americans.  Deadlines must be met, projects must be done, and things must be completed in in the right way and in a timely manner.   While quality and efficiency are always key and desirable in projects, it is clear that the amount of time that one spends on a translation project has a direct relation with the quality outcome.  If you have 5 hours to prepare for an exam, you might score better than if you have only 30 minutes.  This obvious analogy is true in most cases of nearly everything, including translations.

While machine translations (MT) are increasingly popular and seemingly time efficient, and do produce quick results, they often result in translation errors.  This translation method is sometimes just what a person needs to get the gist of the content.  With a simple human revision (post-editing) to check for major errors and basic comprehension, a short document can be translated in a matter of hours.  This is a great option for those who are working with a tight deadline and who are not using this text for client facing work.

However, more often than not, quality is a major priority.  The more time a human translator has for a project, the better the outcome.  Allowing for enough time is important, if possible.  The average human translator can translate an average of 2,000 to 2,500 words per day.  After translation, it’s important for the document or project to go through several polishing steps.  To reach the highest quality standards, Trusted Translations uses three steps: translating, editing and proofreading.    The average editor can edit up to 5,000 words per day, and the average proofreader 10,000 words per day.  It’s important that a document goes through this three-step process to ensure consistency in the document; and if quality is a top priority, this three-step process is essential.

Often times, when translation agencies are working under tight deadlines, the translation process is split between several translators and is even split between multiple editors and multiple proofreaders.   As one might imagine, not everyone will translate in the same way.  This often results in inconsistencies which affects the overall quality of the document.  If a translation company has enough time to plan ahead and assign just enough translators, fewer editors and ideally one proofreader the cohesiveness will be of a much higher quality than when split into many hands for all three steps.

As expected, time has a strong correlation and impact with the level of quality. However, this is not to say that rush projects are always done poorly or that good translations cannot be done expediently, I’m simply saying that when it’s possible to dedicate more time to a project, it works in the favor of both parties.

There are certain peak times in our day, when our responses and follow-ups are very crucial and we have to process many quote requests at the same time, deliver translation projects (sometimes these need to be uploaded in the FTP Server, which can take quite some time), and resolve translation issues, where the client feels there might be some translation quality issues.

During these peak moments, it is very easy for an Account Manager to start multitasking and doing 3 or 4 tasks at the same time and before you know it, you made a mistake. The danger in this is that the human brain cannot focus well, when multitasking, and mistakes are an automatic result in the work output. In addition, people take longer to complete a task, as they are involved in several tasks at the same time. This is where Time Management plays a very important role of how to overcome multitasking.

Time Management as defined by the free encyclopedia is  “the act or process of exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase efficiency or productivity”. This means that one´s skills, tools and techniques are used to manage time in order to reach an objective of a certain task or achieve one´s goal.

Before multitasking becomes a bad habit, it is very important to manage time by being able to incorporate the following activities in one´s daily work routine: planning, setting goals, prioritizing, organizing, scheduling, delegating, analyzing time spent, monitoring and allocating.

My experience as an Account Manager, is to learn how to prioritize and set certain goals, so that I am not forced to multitask and hence make mistakes, while I am trying to resolve all of my work issues at the same time.

Not sure what your day in the office looks like, but a typical day at the office for me as an account manager at Spanish Translation US revolves around many different things that seem to need my attention all at once. From answering phone calls, to replying to clients’ emails, to completing my daily tasks… which believe me are many.  I constantly find myself going back and forth to each of these tasks and often find it challenging to complete one before I am interrupted by something else. With multitasking being such an important part of my daily experience I found the section on time management in Chet Holmes “The Ultimate Sales Machine” to be very helpful and interesting.

Chet’s six tips on Time Management are:

• Touch It Once: If you touch it take action and handle that task.  Do not revisit the task.
• Make Lists: Lists help you prioritize and stay focused on your daily tasks.
• Plan How Much Time You Will Allocate to Each Task: This helps you manage your daily tasks and dedicate enough time to accomplish them.
• Plan the Day: Give yourself a time frame on how much time you will dedicate to complete each of the things on your list.
• Prioritize: Always start with your most important and difficult task. As the other guru Brian Tracy says in his book “Stop procrastinating!”. By completing the most difficult task first, you will feel a tremendous sense of control and accomplishment having checked the biggest thing off your list.
• Ask Yourself, “Will it hurt me to throw this stuff away?”: Untidiness hurts your productivity. Studies show that 80% of all filed or stored information is never referred to again. So get rid of it!!

I do not have these 6 steps 100% into effect just yet, but I am really working on it. I’m sure that applying these six steps will assist me in completing my daily tasks efficiently. I know they are going to help me manage my time and be more productive on a daily basis. No doubt that I will also help me turn into a happier man!

A translation is not always just a translation.  As an Account Manager, I strive to understand as much as possible about each translation project in order to provide not only a simple translation, but one catered to the intended the audience.  The concept of providing translation services also considering the geographical and cultural perspectives of the audience is called “localization”.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the AT&T ad in Puerto Rico is a perfect example of ignoring localization.  The ad had been translated from English into Spanish. Grammatically speaking, it made perfect sense.  Their mistake lied in not taking into account the cultural nuances of their Puerto Rican audience.  The end result was creating a household situation that was very unlikely and perhaps even offensive.

Here’s another example of lack of localization with an early computer operating system in the 1980’s with something as simple as a desktop icon.  The same icon Americans interpreted to be the trash can appeared to be more of a mailbox to Europeans.  This example clearly shows that while European clients were intended to by the products, no one seemed to be consulted before the software was green lighted.  While this is a small, subtle example, it shows the importance of not throwing your trash in the mailbox, or really understanding who you’ll be communicating with through the sale of products and services.

While the importance of localization services can be easily demonstrated using marketing examples, it’s actually important for all translations.  Considering who you’ll be talking to and where they will be is important in any type of communication.  Some details that may appear small and subtle in some languages or cultures can often be glossed over when not considering the target audience.  Moreover, these services should be provided by and discussed with professionals who understand these nuances that help you conduct business in the easiest, most effective way.    We are a big world and, while many people may speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi or Arabic, we do not all think the same, act the same or approach life similarly.

• 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.

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.

At an international conference held in Valladolid 15 years ago, “Spanish and the Media”, the then director of a Miami newspaper commented on the various nationalities of the newspapers’ readers and editors, all Spanish speakers, to which she added that the Spanish used could be described as international Spanish, understanding by this that it belongs to no one and to everyone at at the same time.

At that same conference, another speakers said that “U.S. Spanish consists of a set of subsystems that reflect the Spanish of the countries of origin of each group, which is also subject to English influence. Bilingual speakers tends to simplify their language to compensate for the effort made when operating in two different languages. But this simplification also extends to the discourse Hispanics have with each other, they tend to avoid regionalism, word plays or terms that may hinder the understanding of a message. ”

Among the members of the Spanish press in the U.S., there are journalists from different Spanish speaking countries who, gradually and almost without realizing it, cease to use their own idioms and write in a more unified Spanish that everyone can understand.

The decisions that can be made in regards to the variation of Spanish, should be made through the use of a general rule, the use given by all members of the Hispanic community. For example, a demographic data base could help decide which words are most common in Hispanic countries.

The vocabulary used in international news programs on television is part of what is considered to be neutral Spanish. In regard to pronunciation, it is appropriate and corresponds to everyday language use. And in regard to the text itself, there is little disagreement about the syntax. For television, instead of thinking of a standard unit, the essential unity within variety should be fomented instead. Talk models of proper speech are are within each country or region.

One study analyzed the major news channels across the Spanish speaking world. The result showed that the number of different words, uncommon words or country specific words is relatively minimal, only 1 to 2%. Therefore, it was concluded that television is as important as any other media, regarding the unification of Spanish vocabulary.

In my next and final article, I will continue to share other aspects of this issue.

The real guides for the current Spanish usage are the style manuals, even more so than dictionaries, grammar or spelling books. Most of these style manuals belong to the media, both written and oral, and were created, written or supervised by language experts.

Neutral Spanish, Standard Spanish, Common Spanish…

This is a variety of Spanish that is valid for all Spanish-speaking countries; although it is different from the local dialect, it is common to all Spanish speakers.

Neutral Spanish is the name given in the field of translation. Many clients require the use of neutral Spanish in order to use the translation in any Spanish-speaking country.

The idea of neutral Spanish, which perhaps deserves to be called common Spanish, has a clear commercial point: reduce costs by only making a single Spanish translation, instead of making two, three or more localizations.

As linguists, the most important reasons that should motivate us to use neutral Spanish are:

• the unification of the neologisms in all countries;

• to ensure that the language is competitive and affordable to a larger number of customers;

• to expand the translation market, and

• to prevent the separation of terminology which could only cause long term damage.

An example of neutral Spanish is the existence of a law enacted by the Argentine government in 1986, which says that the Argentine audiovisual products produced for export to other Spanish-speaking countries should be in neutral Spanish.

I will continue to share other aspects of this issue in my next article.

The BBVA Fundéu Foundation will create in March a website for journalists, writers, language teachers and Internet users to know the basic uses of correct Spanish online.

This multi-platform style manual for PC, tablets and mobile devices, has no name yet. It will combine the search capabilities of the RAE dictionary and its Panhispánic Dictonary of Doubt, with the collaborative philosophy of Wikipedia and the advisory agency EFE or Wikilengua.

This will be Fundéu’s first blog and will consist of 11 thematic sections aimed at new digital formats. Some of these categories will give advice on how to write on Facebook or Twitter, as opposed to writing on Wikipedia for example.

The blog may also function as a spelling or typography manual, to teach the politically correct use of bold font (highlighted text) or case letters (which is intended to appear as a scream).

La nueva Ortografía de la RAE (The New Spelling of the RAE) has devoted a chapter on new ways of writing on the internet and writing SMS. Fundéu’s multimedia stylebook aims to extend this advice with the rules of usage for new media, social networks and blogs.

The website will include articles by experts from Spain, USA and Latin America, including the discussion and feedback generated by them.

The manual wants to become a reference for Spanish, such as similar free projects that exist in English. For example, the Yahoo! style guide for the web, which features a chat between experts and users who have questions about the language. However, the Fundéu project will also cover semantics on the web.

The service consists of a three-step process:

• Speech recognition and conversion into text.

• Automatic text translation.

• Translation converted back to into speech, using a text-to-speech program.

Google makes it clear that service is still in its initial stages of development, and therefore it cannot handle different accents or other contingencies such as background noise or very fast conversations. Its use is limited and the accuracy in not consistent.

Human Telephone Interpreters

Phone interpretation is becoming a less practical option for real-time communication in several languages.

An interpreter is usually:

• a professional.

• Has experience in the field or related areas

• Is helpful to those involved in the interpretation.

• Can answer questions.

• Can express himself/herself clearly in the required languages.

• Can transcribe and record the call if necessary.

The main objective of this service is to communicate the meaning of what each party is saying, in order to achieve the desired goal: effective communication.

The survey published by the U.S. Modern Language Association (MLA) shows that despite the anti-immigrant movement of recent years and the increase in the number of university students who enroll in Arabic, Chinese and Korean courses, Spanish remains by far the most studied language in universities.

Spanish is still the No. 1 foreign language. Nearly 50% of university enrollment for foreign language courses focuses on Spanish lessons.

About 850,000 students are enrolled in Spanish courses, followed by 210,000 in French, 198,000 in German, 74,000 in Japanese and 61,000 in Chinese.

Everything indicates that this trend will continue, for reasons that go beyond the existence of a huge U.S. Hispanic population. Students of all ethnic groups choose Spanish as a language because it opens up employment opportunities. Furthermore, in a time of budget cuts it is more likely that universities remove language courses with less assistance, but preserve the Spanish language.

In the U.S., about 34 million people speak Spanish, including 3.5 million who are Hispanic, according to the Census Bureau. That makes the United States the major Spanish-speaking country of the world.

But will the trend continue? Will new generations keep using their language in times when several states are considering anti-immigration measures and when the financial crisis is slowing the flow of Latin American immigration?

There is reason to think so. A nationwide survey conducted by Bendixen and Amandi, a public research firm, reveals that 89% of young foreign-born and 59% U.S.-born Hispanics speak English and Spanish.

It is a new phenomenon. Unlike what happened decades ago when parents would ask their children not to speak Spanish because they believed that they would progress more if they only spoke English, now Mexican immigrants want their children to be bilingual.

Besides bilingualism is now considered an advantage for employment. Also, technology keeps the immigrants and their children closer to their home countries. Technology has been a key factor; thanks to the Internet the U.S. is becoming more of a multi-ethnic society.

Hispanics already constitute the largest minority in the United States, and the technology will help the Spanish force in the country grow in the near future.

The need for certified court interpreters in a foreign language has doubled in the last decade. All states are facing an acute shortage of court interpreters, according to professionals working in the field. The demand for these services appeared suddenly and took everyone by surprise, said Wanda Romberger, Director of judicial interpretation at the National Center for State Courts, headquartered in Virginia.

Professionals in the legal field are also concerned and trying to find a solution to this problem, consequence of the rapid diversification of the population. State court processes and immigration are at the root of this problem. All immigrants have a constitutional right to receive equal treatment in a court of law, regardless of their mother tongue.

There is a multistate partnership founded in 1995, dedicated to dealing with issues of interpreters’ certification and related problems, which confirm the growing demand for this type of translators. The effort to address these problems began in 1995 with four states and the focus was on the Spanish language. There are now 40 states and the association manages tests in 16 languages, with pressure to diversify further.

This is a field that still has much to offer for translators who live in the United States, especially for Latino translators.

U.S. based translations face a very different situation from that experienced by markets in other Spanish speaking countries. On the one hand is the domestic market, where the target audience is highly heterogeneous, submerged in bilingual media and at times with low educational level. This is a population that innocently uses Spanglish. On the other hand is the international one, in which translations can be aimed at any of the 22 countries of the Hispanic world, or to all countries equally.

The U.S. market makes the translation process more difficult for the translator and the translation company. Typically, translations into Spanish need to have very specific guidelines or the translation can be plagued with differences. Translators from different backgrounds tend to use different terms and forms of expression. Reason why it is so important to keep in mind that Spanish speakers often react strongly to the use of words that are not common in their countries. Of course all this has a solution: if translators work with a glossary and a style manual, customers will ultimately receive a satisfactory translation.

However, the Spanish language is basically the same for all countries. The most noticeable differences between the various forms of expression in Spanish are at the level of speech. The lower the educational level of the speaker, the more pronounced is the difference of expression. But no matter what dialect is used, if it is written in good basic Spanish, any Spanish speaker will understand it.

Having said that, it is important to recognize the idiosyncrasies of the market. For example, when translating for a U.S. audience, numerals should be the same as in English. That is, one dollar and fifty cents is written one point fifty and not one comma fifty. The reason for this is obvious: U.S. Spanish speakers live in a world that expresses decimal points with a period and not a comma as in their countries of origin. Changing it would be extremely confusing and may even cause lawsuits. Moreover, some Latin American countries are increasingly adopting the decimal separator. For example: Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Puerto Rico.

Spanglish

The most troubling aspect of the U.S. market is Spanglish. In short, it is the use of English words and, in many cases, combined with an English syntax. Requests to translate in Spanglish already exist in the market. This is obviously for marketing purposes to reach to a potential buyer and sell a product. However, Spanglish is not a dialect and its use should not be encouraged. Promoting Spanglish can have unpredictable consequences for the evolution, or rather the involution of Spanish or Hispanic heritage in the United States.

- Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ch. 27

This quote from the famous novel by Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, gives us two powerful discussion topics. Let us leave aside the more philosophical and theological, even anthropological, line of thought resulting from the comparison between cultural tools, such as language, and the virtues of religion. We will only focus on the statement as it relates to the richness of language.

Reading between the lines, I would like to think that the famous writer, with some envy, mostly describes the abundance of colloquial vocabulary. It is in Pilar, Pablo’s lover, the leader of the gang, and the true leader of the low-spirited commando group, where Hemingway found the opportunity to admire the richness of the Spanish language. The writer painstakingly tries to reproduce the superior ability of insult he found in a language he so admired after years of living in Spain. What is striking is that he tries to personify it as a woman, which also suggests his desire to magnify the subject.

The richness of the Spanish language makes the famous Mexican author Carlos Fuentes expresses that “Perhaps Spanish is not competitive in science, but in literature and other disciplines it is clearly a growing force; a proven presence and a probable future.” This also leads to a Spanish “…embedded in the depths of the North American society, whether in culture, gastronomy or love.”

Those looking to translate their content into Spanish must take into account this “creativity” potential that the language provides. This not only helps the translated text look more “colorfully descriptive” from a literary standpoint. It also helps to accept the necessary tedious expansion of content, which must be properly “internationalized” beforehand (another matter to be discussed in a different article.)