There is little doubt about the growing influence of the Hispanic demographic in the United States. According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Latinos comprise 14.8% of the population for a total of 44.3 million people. What’s more, Hispanics are projected to account for almost 25% of the total U.S. population by the year 2050.[1] The incredible cultural and linguistic diversity of the U.S. Hispanic population presents a challenge for retailers and other businesses who want to reach out to the Latino segment and harness the economic potential within that group. So, how does one effectively communicate with and market to an audience consisting of cultures from across the Spanish-speaking world? The answer lies in the use of neutral Spanish.
When creating advertising campaigns, website content, or other materials geared toward the U.S. Hispanic audience, companies are wise to consider the use of neutral Spanish, which avoids regionalisms, colloquial language, and certain verb tenses and conjugations that hint at a particular dialect. Translators and writers employing neutral Spanish seek to produce a text that is universally understood by Spanish speakers. Given the dynamic nature of the Latino community, a translator should have contact with the Hispanic market in the U.S. in order to make the best decisions regarding word choice.
The use of neutral Spanish for Latino audiences is gaining traction in television and radio as well. The rise in popularity of neutral Spanish on the airwaves signals a real change in how U.S. Hispanics view themselves as a unique community apart from their respective countries of origin. Ilan Stavans, Professor of Latin American and Latino culture at Amherst College in Massachusetts, notes, “It is a widespread trend that is quite significant because it says much about how Latinos in the U.S. are consolidating their own identity.” [2]
Though neutral Spanish lacks an equivalent in the real world (think Received Pronunciation in the U.K. or Standard American English in the U.S.), erasing traces of a telltale accent from spoken Spanish or country-specific slang from the written word serves to avoid confusing or even offending the audience and goes a long way in appealing to the broad Hispanic demographic in the United States.
References:
[1] Hispanic Population of the United States, U.S. Census Bureau
[2] American Spanish? Telemundo coaches “neutral” accents, Hispanic American Center for Economic Research (HACER)
I agree that based upon the diversity of the Latino market it is best to use “neutral spanish” when translating. I have been doing that for my clients for a number of years, particularly when translating web sites for them.
Well so it must be, but I must say I love the colloquialisms like the Colombian “vaina”, the Argentinian “Che Flaca!”, the Madrid “Tio” but I guess to mix that all up would be something like, “Che Flaca, que es la vaina hoy? Ese Tio no te esta molestando no?”