Translation vs. Transcreation in the Hispanic Market

February 3rd, 2010 by michelleb

The Hispanic population is a consumer segment that is growing faster than any other minority group in the United States. Already many businesses are starting to implement new approaches and strategies to target Hispanics.

And yet there is no one “Hispanic market”, even if language unifies U.S. Hispanics. This is because “Latino” or “Hispanic” mainly refers to an origin or ethnicity, not a race. For such reason marketing is not just about the language issues. It is also about cultural knowledge that allows connecting with the consumer.

The assimilation of generations and diverse countries of origin within U.S. Hispanics has created a complex culture. There are many factors that make the Hispanic consumers unique: historical, contextual, cultural, demographic, and financial.

Direct translations and general market strategies tend to miss emotional and culturally relevant elements. This is where translation vs. trancreation comes in.

Translation is defined as a written communication in a second language having the same meaning as the written communication in a first language. Transcreation on the other hand is closer to creative writing, the result of which is a text linguistically and culturally adapted for specific audience. It takes marketing related material in one language and rewrites a creative and compelling text in another language.

For example, in the marketing industry the language used in a transcreation should have a similar impact on the target audience. For this reason, marketers cannot simply transfer directly to the Hispanic market an idea, product or a service that works with the general market.

A good strategy to attract the Hispanic market is to translate and transcreate your website. This will allow your website to be submitted to Spanish search engines and Spanish SEO. It’s recommended to have at least 3 pages in Spanish that are optimized with Spanish keywords in order to submit to Hispanic search engines:  Landing page, Products/Service page and Contact page.

For more information go to Hispanic Market Research Services and Spanish Website Translation

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One Response to “Translation vs. Transcreation in the Hispanic Market”

  1. Traducción y transcreación en el mercado hispano Says:

    [...] Translation vs. Transcreation in the Hispanic Market, por michelleb Etiquetas: consumidores hispanos, hispanos en Estados Unidos, mercado hispano, [...]

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