When localization budgets started to shrink, the big question when selling to Spanish-speaking locales was, “Is more than one version required?” The localization industry decided that there were two basic types of Spanish: Latin American and European. But suddenly, demographic changes in the U.S. have produced a new Hispanophone kid on the block: U.S. Spanish, aka Spanglish.

U.S. Hispanic Population

A glance at the last U.S. Census, shows how varied this American Spanish-speaking population is, with its mix of countries, backgrounds, education and income. But do they speak the same Spanish language?

From a translation viewpoint, the U.S. Spanish scenario is a repeat of the problems faced originally during the Latin American vs. European Spanish issue some years ago, but with extra topping. In the case of U.S. Spanish, many readers (and reviewers) lack any in-depth knowledge and simply base their judgments on what they hear at home as the ‘correct’ form of the language, lacking any formal language training in Spanish at school. In the case of many Hispanic-Americans, the new flavor spoken every day on the streets is now known as Spanglish.

Spanglish Sí

Basically, Spanglish is created by taking words from English and adapting them to the structure of Spanish grammar, even though there may already be a word or expression for exactly the same concept in Spanish. A classic example is the English word carpet. Although standard Spanish already has alfombra, Spanglish-speakers have started using the derived term carpeta. Ironically, the same word in Spanish - carpeta - has the meaning of folder. Here are some other examples:

Since this new form of U.S. Spanish has no apparent formation rules, it is not an official language in the sense that Spanish in many Spanish-speaking countries comes under the surveillance of language academies and/or is written into constitutions. Therefore, the prevailing attitude is that Spanglish should not really serve as an example of correct usage. However, that does not mean that there is no market demand for Spanglish localization. Every business sector in the U.S. clearly understands that the Hispanic (and therefore partially Spanglish-speaking) population is a market of 39 million potential consumers, with increasing economic and voting power. As a result, we are facing increasing demand for localization services focused on U.S. Spanish – and therefore Spanglish.

Best Practice

The linguistic map of Spanish language localization is complex (for a very entertaining and enlightening article on this subject and its relationship to strategic marketing decisions, please read What Your High School Spanish Teacher Never Told You in this issue), but we work in a service industry, and that means meeting our customers’ needs. Finding the right flavor of Spanish for a company wishing to publish or sell in Spanish-speaking countries – whether they be in Spain, Latin America or the U.S. – is therefore a natural dimension of our service. What, then, would constitute best practice for localizing Spanish to address the needs of these different locales?

One scenario is to follow the example of mainstream newspapers targeting international audiences. With this approach, reporters avoid local terminology and opt for common vocabulary. Why not use this approach when localizing into Spanish? As suggested above, any educated reader, and therefore any professional translator, can find the right word and work in the sort of neutral Spanish that is understood by users with a certain level of education, and who are aware of the wealth of the Spanish language.

Users will feel comfortable since the text will have a more formal tone, due to the choice of a standard or common style and vocabulary. However, people with a less formal education, or with a more limited access to a Spanish environment (such as speakers and consumers in the U.S. who are now out of touch with the national forms of Spanish as spoken and written in Latin America or in Spain), will tend to view this formal Spanish as coming from another region, and therefore, somewhat distant and different from their everyday speech.

Another approach is more locale-sensitive. Localizers can try and avoid this problem by gaining as much information as possible about the target audience in terms of education, work skills, etc. and then adapt the terminology and style to this profile – similar to what a good writer or teacher does. In other words, the best way to approach the multiple nature of Spanish in the Americas is to work together with the customer to find out how to reach their final users successfully. As a rule of thumb, the more informal the text, the more varied in form the Spanish will become across Spanish-speaking regions.

But remember, translation is all about communication, right?

Localizing into U.S. Spanish: A Brief Guide

When it comes to Spanglish, you can forget about such standard problems as localizing measurements, images, and so on, because although you may be translating into a different language – in the formal sense - localization issues have to be treated differently, especially in the e-learning field. Here are a few points to consider:

• Characters and names may not need to be localized.
      For example, for a training course to be “politically correct” and acceptable in the U.S., characters/people must be from different ethnic backgrounds. When the end user is a Hispanic living in the U.S., the context will be the same as for any other U.S. citizen, so the chances are that there are already Hispanic characters and names in the U.S. English version. Our suggestion would be to include 50-50 Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic examples.
• Measures should remain in the Imperial system. Reference units will be inches, pounds, miles, etc. since everything is usually measured in this way.
• Dates should remain in U.S. format.
• References to U.S. websites may not require localization. Depending on the product, bear in mind that the audience is bilingual, and for certain websites, web surfers may prefer accessing the English version, especially if the Spanish version is not up-to-date.
• Watch out for pronunciation differences. This applies to syllable stresses (paneles vs. páneles), as well as to spelling examples (W is sometimes spelled out as doble b (double b) in Latin America, while in Spain, it is read as doble v; V is referred to as uve in European Spanish, but b chica (small b) in Mexican Spanish.
• Do not replace U.S. holidays with Hispanic American events. Instead, they should be combined, since U.S. Hispanics celebrate both the 4th of July and October 12th (Hispanic Day or Race Day).

Arancha Caballero is Co-Founder and COO of Glotas (formerly ROS Multimedia), an ISO 9001:2000 certified localization company based in Spain. She holds a Translator and Interpreter degree from the University of Granada and an MBA. You can reach her at arancha@glotas.com.