Monthly Archive for January, 2008

Language Shifting and the Role of Spanish Translations

Published on January 28, 2008 in Spanish Translation and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

A study released by the Pew Hispanic Center in November reports that English fluency increases across generations, even in first-generation monolingual Spanish-speaking families. Furthermore, by the third generation, Spanish has all but faded into the background.

While those who arrive in the U.S. as adults may always struggle with learning English, their children either grow up bilingual or use English as their dominant language at the expense of Spanish.

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Translating PDF Documents

Published on January 22, 2008 in Tips for Translators. 2 Comments Tags: , .

What is a PDF?

“Portable Document Format” or PDF is a file format which allows the author to preserve her file in its original form, complete with text, images, and other formatting features. By its nature, PDF is not a file format conducive to editing, but rather for documents intended for final distribution.

This can make doing translations from PDFs complicated despite various types of software and strategies for working around the semi-permanent nature of these files.

Working with PDFs

You may come across either of the two types of PDFs: application-generated and scanned PDFs.

Working with the former type is much less complicated, as the document was originally created with another computer application and then converted. You will be able to extract lines, paragraphs, pages, and entire sections of the document so as to save it as a Word document.

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Spreading the Message: Spanish Translations Reach a Wider Audience

Published on January 14, 2008 in Spanish Translation and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Your product or service is solid and well-received. Your marketing materials are glossy and your copy punchy. You’ve created a niche for your company in all the major English-speaking markets. Yet you want to push sales to the next level. Take sales up a notch by reaching out to the largest ethnic minority in the U.S. and translating your message into Spanish.

The Hispanic community’s buying power is increasing rapidly as the Latino population explodes in the U.S. Getting your message out to this demographic can boost your sales, especially if you are in the automotive, personal care, telecommunications, or food and beverage industries.

While many Latinos are bilingual, 60% of Hispanics prefer to make buying decisions in Spanish. If your company translates its materials into Spanish, you will be reaching a demographic with the power and desire to purchase products and services.

Once you make the decision to translate your message into Spanish, don’t rely on just anyone to do the translation. Most companies have bilingual employees, but don’t assume that just because someone speaks both English and Spanish that they will be able to accurately and effectively translate your copy. Make sure that you entrust your PR materials to a skilled translator who will be able to create Spanish-language materials that are just as dynamic and audience-appropriate as
the English originals.

A solid and culturally appropriate Spanish translation can allow your company to tap into the Hispanic community and boost sales. You will be able to target Latino radio stations, Spanish-language publications, and television programs to access new customers.

Having translations of your materials is only a start to forming a relationship with Latino customers. Your publicity materials must be backed up by a solid understanding of how to provide customer service to this demographic. If you do business in any of the states with high numbers of Spanish-speaking residents, such as New York, California, Texas, or Arizona, you probably also have bilingual employees on staff. Make sure that you also have Spanish-speakers as front line customer service providers so that you can take your message all the way to the finish line of solidifying new customer relationships.