Creating Content for the Hispanic American Market

Creating Content for the Hispanic American Market CM Pros Summit November 27, 2006 Christine Bucher

Who am I? • Senior Project Manager at Iverson Language Associates (3 years) • Technical writer / technical communication consultant for 20 years • Have managed translation projects for complex, multiple language projects • Have created content for numerous online help systems and user guides © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Some statistics • Two thirds of U.S. Hispanics trace their roots to Mexico, other significant populations are from Central and South America, Puerto Rico, and Cuba • Half the Hispanic population has moved to the U.S., the other half was born here • 11% of Americans speak Spanish at home • Hispanic purchasing power tops $600 billion © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

“Universal” Spanish? • Perspective 1: “Everyone listens to Univision.” • Perspective 2: A “language” that tries to please everyone pleases no one. © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Analyzing your content TYPE OF DIALECT-SPECIFIC CONTENT TERMINOLOGY • Food, menus More • Education . . • Banking . • Medicine, law . . • Technical . documents Less © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Analyzing your document TYPE OF DIALECT-SPECIFIC DOCUMENT TERMINOLOGY • marketing More literature . • brochures . . • training . . • manuals & . online help Less © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Measurements • In U.S Spanish, measurements are given in imperial or both imperial and metric 12 in. (305 mm) 74°F (24°C) • In Latin America and Spain, measurements are typically given in metric only © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Number formatting Thousands separator Most of Latin America English, U.S. and Spain: Spanish, Mexico: 1.025 1,025 Decimal separator English, U.S. Spanish, Most of Latin America Mexico: and Spain: 12.7 12,7 © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Dates November 27, 2006 English and Latin America U.S. Spanish: and Spain: 27/11/06 11/27/06 December 1, 2006 English and Latin America U.S. Spanish: and Spain: 12/01/06 01/12/06 © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Postal information Latin America English and and Spain: U.S. Spanish: NAME NAME ADDRESS ADDRESS POSTAL CODE, CITY CITY, STATE, POSTAL CODE STATE COUNTRY COUNTRY What about…. NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Accents • espanol = (is not a word) • español = Spanish • sueno americano = I sound American • sueño americano = American dream • año = year • ano = (body part) © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Capitalization Days of the week, months, nationalities • English: Tuesday, October 12, 1954 • Spanish: martes 12 de octubre de 1954 • English: English, Spanish, Chinese • Spanish: inglés, español, chino © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Recipes • When putting together instructions, recipes, procedures, etc., for the Spanish language market, numerical figures (3 tbsp sugar, 5 fl oz of milk), work better than spelled out numbers (eighteen walnuts) © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Memory aids • Avoid mnemonic phrases or acronyms that express concepts in English • E.g., 1-800-GO2WORK • If there is no way around it, use the plain number first [800-462-9685] followed by the mnemonic number [800-GO2WORK] © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Reading level • Even though the Spanish language market moves billions in the U.S., remember that Spanish-speaking immigrants come from all walks of life. If your copy is meant for massive distribution, target the widest common denominator--a sixth grade reading level would be a reasonable reference. © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Expressions “No apueste “No tire de todas sus fichas inmediato toda Don’t mismo a un put a la la carne all número” in parrilla” your eggs (don't basket! one bet all your (don't throw all chips meat on the the on the same number) grill right away) © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Acknowledgments Thank you... • To my colleagues at Iverson, for providing many of the examples • To my Spanish translators, for their most valuable input © 2006 Iverson Language Associates, Inc. -Confidential -

Creating Content for the Hispanic American Market

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