Poll Results: What language?
28
March
Over 100 users voted in our Latin-Know poll which asked the question:
Which language is more effective for targeting U.S Latinos in general?
The results:
| Selection | ||
| English |  17% |
18 |
| Spanish |  33% |
35 |
| Bilingual messages |  50% |
54 |
 |
|
|
Now for the debate: Are bilingual messages really the best way? Why? Please leave your opinions in comments.
Technorati Tags: poll, latin-know, marketing, latino marketing, language, spanish
1. perroazul | March 28th, 2006 at 10:25 am
ahorita si que se abrio la cajita de pandora…
pa’ empezar:
kud iu plis clarify guat is dis bilingual messages? in guat languach is dis? ai never lern bilingual, mai eskul guas chimbo…
tank iu very much yur guelcom
2. Daniel | March 30th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Not sure what that other comment was supposed to mean, but as an American I believe that everyone should be talked to in English. People won’t learn unless they hear the language.
3. Latino Pundit | March 31st, 2006 at 12:54 am
It depends on who you want to reach within the Latino community. We are comprised of those who speak spanish and those who speak English.
4. perroazul | March 31st, 2006 at 9:31 am
To Daniel:
This is a marketing communications blog, and the question is “Which language is more effective for targeting U.S Latinos in general?”, because in contrast to the majority US market, most Latinos speak 2 (or more) Languages.
If you would like to make political statements “as an American” there are many other and better suited places where you can express your monocultural viewpoints.
Also, keep in mind that “America” is a continent that stretches from Alaska to Patagonia, and among the 15 predominant Languages spoken on the continent, Spanish is at the top language spoken by Americans.
5. Jennifer | March 31st, 2006 at 9:51 am
LP, excellent point. But if you were to choose a language for a very broad stroke marketing campaign — which is best? Or does it even make sense to try to use broad strokes?
perroazul, well said. Let’s ignore that ignorant comment as I get back to your question. When I say bilingual messages, I mean the kind of language that marketers use to target English-speaking Latinos who either are bilingual or English speakers who are culturally inclined towards Spanish. An example:
“Tell her she’s the most important mujer in the world for you. This Valentine’s Day, why not send her flores?”
To people in Latin America, this may sound absurd, but many, many Latinos in the U.S. actually speak like this, using English with Spanish words thrown in and vice versa.
6. Monica | March 31st, 2006 at 10:15 am
I’m torn on this. While I am one of those people that interchanges English & Spanish words in conversation, I have to say I hate it when I see it/hear it in advertising. It sounds ignorant. The only reason I do it is because my Spanish vocabulary isn’t as large as I’d like it to be. It’s not something I like nor something I think we should encourage. (Side note: the DJs on The Kalle, San Francisco’s Univision owned Reggaeton station, speak “Spanglish” and everytime I hear them I want to throw the radio out the window. I don’t really think that’s response they want from their audience.)
Also, the English Only stance is so old and so not going to happen. While I do agree that people should learn the prominent language of the country they are living in, it’s not something that should be forced. We should really just get over it.
7. perroazul | March 31st, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Thus my reference to Pandora’s box, there are so many good and different and divisive viewpoints on the language issue in Hispanic marketing, an issue that has been around for over a decade in Hispanic advertising.
In my view, you can’t apply a silver bullet approach. In each Hispanic marketing challenge you’re faced with, you have to evaluate which language best communicates to the audience you intend to affect with the resources you have available.
And if you decide it is Spanglish, you’re faced with a living breathing linguistic phenomenon that has no use dictionary and where the same word can have several meanings, like English.
Just the same, I find the Spanglish DJs annoying and colorful.
I also find Christy Haubegger and Jeff Valdez to be arrogant monolingual monotone mythmakers for the man.
I also think Hispanic ad agencies are just as guilty, given the crossover dreams of writers and art directors who in most cases find English ads aimed at “assimilated” Hispanics extremely sexier than ads in Spanish to “unaculturated” Hispanics.
8. Daniel | April 1st, 2006 at 12:30 am
I know what kind of blog this is. But you people are speaking in English and you are obviously “Hispanic”, so why can’t the rest of them do that? If advertisers want to reach Hispanics in the U.S. then they should use the language of the U.S., right? All of you may speak Spanish but you also speak English, so why separate the two?
9. Monica | April 1st, 2006 at 9:53 am
“the rest of them”…nice.
10. perroazul | April 2nd, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Daniel: Hah, very funny, I get it, you’re not really serious. you’re just a jokster posting any garbage on a blog to piss people off…no? dude its not funny, seriously…your material is old…
If I’m wrong, and you are serious about this subjet, then it is quite astounding that with your level of ignorance of basic fact you’re trying to participate in an honest and serious debate about marketing and advertising issues you haven’t grasped…
You’re questions don’t merit any serious consideration.
Now go post yourself somewhere else before I post what’s really on my mind and I get censured off this blog.
11. Daniel | April 3rd, 2006 at 9:51 pm
No I am not joking. You think you are so smart, well maybe you should help your people get ahead instead of holding them back. No one will get ahead without learning English, as Monica said. I am all about multicultural America but people have got to adapt.
12. MTV ventures into Spanglish - Latin-Know: The Latino Marketing Report | April 4th, 2006 at 7:13 am
[…] May 2005 (4) Home > Bilingualism, Television, Biculturalism, Cable > MTV ventures into Spanglish Poll Results: What language? […]
13. Jennifer | April 4th, 2006 at 7:43 am
perroazul, on comment #7, your last point, I could not agree with you more. Some of the more agregious acts are committed by Hispanic agencies, who in their attempt to please Anglo clients have diluted any creativity that could have been given a Latino ad campaign. Sad but true.
Daniel, read the comments, you are taking Monica’s statement out of context.
14. Simba | April 4th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
I personally get annoyed when I read things such as “Tell her she’s the most important mujer in the world for you. This Valentine’s Day, why not send her flores?”. I am fully bilingual and feel equally comfortable speaking Spanish and English. I also grew up speaking “spanglish” and quite often find myself switching from one language to the other. However, I find it incredibly annoying when one word Spanish word is sprinkled into an English sentence or vice versa - I don’t think it’s natural. Latina magazine is very guilty of doing that.
I find that in my case as well as my friends and family, we usually switch from one Spanish sentence to one English sentence within a conversation. Another thing we do is for example, if we’re speaking English but can’t find one right English word to express a thought, then we’ll just say it in Spanish (or vice versa) but I never find myself saying things like “You need to impress that mujer”.
I think it makes sense for marketers to use both Spanish & English in advertising but make it seem natural and not so forced. I’ve seen a couple of comercials (which I can’t remember right now), where they’ve naturally transitioned from one language to the next and I think that it’s great! I love it when I see that but only if it seems natural. I think the real challenge is making it seamless. I think it’s easier to do in tv/radio ads than it is in print.
15. Jennifer | April 4th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Simba — exactly my point with the MTV thing. If they pull it off well, and it seems seamless, then it will resonate with viewers like you. The whole idea of this kind of targeted programming is that the target audience identifies with it. But if it’s self-aware and contrived (the examples of this type of Spanglish abound) it will have the opposite effect, as Monica mentioned. Instead of tuning in you’ll want to tune out.
16. perroazul | April 4th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
Daniel, you’re sounding childish, by any chance, do you work at Latina magazine?
This isn’t your papi’s blog…
17. Monica | April 5th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Simba, I totally agree. (Side note: You couldn’t be more right about Latina magazine. I cancelled my subscription for just that reason. I also hated how they boasted being a bilingual magazine when they came out with articles in English and Spanish. Which to them meant translating a 2 page article in English to a paragraph in Spanish. Also, how many Jennifer Lopez cover stories can you have in a year, honestly.)
For the record, I am in no way affiliated with “Daniel”, nor do I endorse his views.