Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Before You Pay a Dime for Translations or Begin a Hispanic Campaign, Look Internally

I get calls and e-mails every day from businesses and organizations who want to know if I can translate something. Well, of course I can!  However, inevitably, as I get into the translations, I always look at the totality of the campaign that is being produced and find a few questions.

I recently worked on a translation for a government agency that needed a survey for the community into Spanish. On the survey was a number to call for questions. I simply asked my contact, when I was done, "Who will the people speak to when they call? Do you have a Spanish speaker in the office?" A long, silent pause. "No, um, we hadn't thought about that," was the final reply. This situation speaks volumes about what must happen before a business or organization ventures into the Hispanic community.

You have to look internally at your organization and truly assess if you have the manpower and understanding to truly begin serving all groups within the Hispanic community. I have spoken about the six points that all businesses should asses in a previous post. Assess your current bilingual staff or ability to hire new staff. Is it financially feasible and is there enough time?

Assess your business' operating hours and procedures. Are you available during hours that both blue collar and white collar Hispanics are available?

Do you have the time and manpower to research what your target Hispanic market truly wants and/or needs? While national data, facts, and figures are extremely helpful, if you are a local or regional business or organization, you'll need to understand the Hispanic community in your own back yard.

Peruse my previous article for the rest, but long story short, make sure you get your house in order before you start inviting others in.

These are my two cents. What do you think?

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