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By Andres Heuberger

Spanish is the most translated language in the US. While Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn, technical texts are often considered difficult to translate into Spanish. One of the main reasons given is that there is no single variety of Spanish. There are, in fact, major differences between the Spanish of Spain and, say, South America.

But what are companies to do? Do you need to provide multiple Spanish translations if you wish to market services to the general Hispanic population in the US or to sell your products to Spanish speakers in both South America and Spain? The experts will tell you that you must write specifically in the Spanish of your target audience. In other words, only Mexican Spanish will do for Mexicans.

The experts are wrong.

Second Most Spoken Language in the World
First, a bit of background. Spanish and English are neck-and-neck for the title of second most spoken language in the world. As of 1999, Spanish had 332 million speakers, while English had 322 million. Both are far behind Chinese with close to 900 million speakers (Ethnologue, http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/top100.html)

But which Spanish are they talking about? Ethnologue lists 28 distinct variations of the Spanish language (http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/lookup?SPN). As with other widely spoken languages, regional and local usages develop over the course of time, resulting in a veritable Tower of Babel of Spanish.

The United States in 1998 had the fifth-largest Hispanic population in the world or about 30 million people. According to American Demographics, two-thirds of this group trace their roots to Mexico, with other significant populations from Central and South America, Puerto Rico, and Cuba (http://www.demographics.com/publications/fc/97%5Ffc/9712%5Ffc/f971201.htm).

California alone has 5.5 million people who speak Spanish at home. Other states with high Spanish-speaking populations include Texas (3.4 million), New York (1.8 million), and Florida (1.5 million). The Hispanic population in and around Miami tends to be of Latin American or Caribbean ancestry. In contrast, the Spanish-speaking population in Dallas is predominantly of Mexican origin.

The US Hispanic population is a fast-growing and fast-spending demographic force. Naturally, this attracts the attention of multicultural marketers who now have to wrestle with the same question: which Spanish dialect should we use?

Also, this kind of regionalism - some worriers would say balkanization - makes it difficult to target each group of Spanish speakers in "their" dialect. In Miami, if you want to reach Cuban-Americans, how do you avoid that this text also reaches (and potentially offends) people of Central American origin?

Slow Down for the Sleeping Policeman
The debate over Spanish dialects is easy to understand when compared to the differences in UK English and US English. Most of us find the small differences in meaning and pronunciation charming. But as with Spanish dialects, there are also some substantial differences in usage and vocabulary of the English language.

The chart at http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/pix/vocabulary.gif provides good examples of some of these differences with obvious meanings, slightly to very different meanings, and obscure meanings (part of the American-British - British-American Dictionary at http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/dict.html).

Despite these differences, we can communicate quite effectively across the big pond. Most Americans will quickly adjust when they hear a Brit describe an activity of a "fortnight" ago. More importantly, Americans interpret uncustomary phrases and expressions in the context given.

By itself, the British term "sleeping policeman" might not be understood in the US. However, in the context of an article that talks about motorists speeding through residential neighborhoods, US readers will simply read the American equivalent "speed bump" instead.

Context, Context, Context
In fact, it all comes down to context. It is generally taken for granted that in any language, medical texts use terminology that is quite different from, say, financial texts. Likewise, a guide for janitorial staff uses a style, layout, and terminology that might differ from one for nuclear engineers. We expect readers to have a certain level of familiarity with the topic discussed. That is, the more expertise we assume on the part of the reader, the more specialized the language will become.

For these difficult linguistic situations, the role of the Spanish translator is twofold. The translator must have both expertise in the subject being written about, and knowledge of the document's intended audience. With those two pieces of information, the skilled translator can indeed author a Spanish text that is clear and unambiguous to an educated reader from any Spanish-speaking country.

Companies that use a universal Spanish do so for very practical reasons. It is often not possible to produce multiple Spanish versions of the same document and at the same time, reduce time to market and live within ever-shrinking budgets.

The following five guidelines will help you decide to produce universal Spanish or market-specific materials:

1. Distinguish between marketing communication and technical documentation
To save time and money, technical documentation should be written in a universal Spanish. Marketing documents, on the other hand, should be localized for a specific market. Ads, commercials, brochures, and collateral pieces must be copy-edited by local talent.

2. Accept linguistic differences
There will always be people who point out that certain words are slang terms in a country. While these instances should be investigated to avoid any offense to your local users, most of these claims are as bogus as the old fable that the Chevy Nova failed in South America because "no va" literally means "doesn't go" in Spanish.

3. Speak to your audience
As noted above, translators need to know who will read the Spanish documents. This way, linguists are able to match the words they use to the abilities of the end-user. Don't use technical jargon when lay persons will read the document.

4. Don't get too caught up in the details
Proponents of country-specific Spanish documentation often cite differing conventions for depicting times, numbers, and the like. For example, while a Mexican might write a check for $3,290.67, a Spaniard would write the same amount as $3.290,67. Insisting on an entire different manual to account for differences like this example is rather like missing the forest for the trees. While a notation might be unconventional, it surely would not result in any confusion.

5. Inform users of your approach
Some companies, like Microsoft, preface Spanish manuals with a note that explains to the user that the document was written in universal Spanish that all of their customers could understand. This heads off criticism at the pass and alerts readers to the possibility for uncustomary terms.

Not everybody will be convinced that a universal Spanish is feasible or appropriate. However, translators need to adapt to the business realities of their customers. It is no longer feasible - or necessary - to write specifically in the Spanish of your Spanish target audience.

Instead, provide context and let them read universal Spanish!

Andres Heuberger is an editor at multilingualwebmaster.com. He frequently writes on issues related to technology, translation, and regulations. Rants and raves can be sent to aheuberger@multilingualwebmaster.com.

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