Spanish Translation, Part 2: Choosing the Right Spanish Variant
Posted on Fri, Sep 04, 2009
Teodoro Alonso is back with us today, with Part Two of his three-part series on Spanish Translation...
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The so-called Mid-Atlantic, Neutral or Universal Spanish is a neutral Spanish which uses non-country-specific terminology, avoiding regional words or expressions; it can be used to create products that can target the Spanish and American markets equally. This is the common standard Spanish that can be used in many cases to effectively communicate with Spanish speakers in the US.
The US Spanish or Hispanic is a neutral Spanish variant with some US characteristics (capitalization rules, metric system, use of comma as thousands separator). It's specifically used for the US market, and some of its special rules, like imperial metric system or thousands separator, can confuse readers of other markets.
Nevertheless, there are cases where a specific flavor of Spanish can be used to obtain better results. For instance, if the message has a specific region or Spanish-speaking subgroup as its target, using the correct specific variant of Spanish may be the optimal solution. For example, if a document will target predominantly Puerto Ricans for a local bank in New York, we can advise our client to use a Puerto Rican variant of Spanish.
Also, Universal Spanish tends to be more formal and usually is better suited for translation of formal documents, such as forms, manuals, etc. Sometimes, particularly when translating advertising material, our clients can be better served by offering localization with a specific flavor, since regional terms can reach readers at a more personal level.
Finally, about 60% of Americans identified as Hispanic are from Mexican descent. As a result, we may advise our clients to use Mexican Spanish if the material is primarily targeted at individuals in states such as California, New Mexico, or Arizona.
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Next time: Which variant should we offer to clients?