I was recently surprised while performing web analytics on several sites in the home improvement industry. To my knowledge there is no Spanish site for either HomeDepot.com or Lowes.com, two of the Nation’s largest providers in this space. I was refreshed at the seemless integration of Spanish content (words and images for text and coupons, etc.) as I began work with a California provider by the name of Osh.com.

In reviewing some blogs I notice it is a touchy issue for companies and the web portion of this is clearly the last step, probably due mostly to costs of content translation. Thereby most organizations will suffice with ‘translator services’ or bilingual print in-store and/or advertising content.

Regional response may be the proper since not all areas of this country are ‘highly Hispanic’. Finally, I am glad to see providers who can assist in the web transition and make it easy and affordable.

[p.s. I formerly worked on a Minnesota State project where the mandate was to translate critical human services forms into 10 languages, plus English. I know a lot of resources are plugged into this effort. Worth it? That would be a public policy/resource question.]

Cordially,
Durwin Knutson
[No Norwegian spoke to date.]

Juan

that´s funny, Last week I was about to record my podcast in Spanish (VivaReal Podcast)interviewing one guy whose last name was rodriguez, and since we had only chatted via skype I assumed that his spoken English was perfect, but it happened that he was actually taking Spanish classes and was practicing his writing with me.

You are correct. In our company alone we have had Garcias, Delgados, etc. and the only ones who actually spoke Spanish were the Eisenbergs.

I’m looking forward to the post on cultural cues.

You are completely right. Even though I have been working with Hispanics and bilingual clients in the US for two years now I seem to be making the same mistake of assuming that just because a client´s last name is Rodriguez, Bueno or Gracia they prefer to be approached in Spanish. Hispanics are the biggest minority in the US and their process of acculturation has been going on for decades and assuming that they speak Spanish simply because their parents probably did is a mistake we all have to learn from.