Category Archives: US Hispanic Market

Stop Speaking English!

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According to this article, Quebec Premier Jean Charest has hinted that he might crack down on the spread of English in the workplace. Apparently French is losing its grip. albeit very slowly, in this Canadian Province.

The report I just completed on Web globalization would seem to support this trend. In 2003, we looked at language use on the Web sites of 121 major multinationals. French Canadian finished 7th overall. In our latest report, we studied 200 Web sites and French Canadian finished 12th overall. Of course, behind this drop were up-and-coming languages like Chinese and Korean.

Still, you have to wonder about the future of a language when the government requires people to speak it.

Conversely, there are groups within the US who want to force federal and state governments not to support Spanish.

Banks Court Hispanic Customers; Web Sites To Follow

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Up until recently, only a handful of US banks have served the Hispanic population reasonably well. But that’s all changed now that the Hispanic market is worth an estimated $700 million.

Recently, Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentina (BBVA) purchased Laredo National Bank, a regional bank based in Texas.

laredo_national.jpg

This may seem like a relatively minor development, but it is anything but minor. Spanish banks see an opportunity to grow in the US through the booming Hispanic market. As BBVA noted in its press release: “Step by step, we are firmly moving forward into the US Hispanic market.”

US banks are also on an acquisition spree. Citigroup has purchased First American Bank, based in Bryan, Texas. And Wells Fargo announced plans to purchase First Community Capital, based in Houston, Texas.

A key to succeeding in the Hispanic market is focusing on remitances – money transfers between the US and foreign markets. According to a New York Times article, more than $13.4 billion flowed into Mexico from the US in 2003. This is big business. And banks are getting more creative in how they serve their customers. For example, Hispanic customers can now pay the mortgage of a family member based in Mexico without having to send money across the border. This saves the customer money and trouble and helps the bank increase customer revenue. Citigroup also has launched a binational credit card that can be paid off on either side of the border.

Growth prospects in the Hispanic market are bright. BBVA said that while 95% of people in the general US population have a checking account, only 65% in the Hispanic market have one.

As banks target the Hispanic market, there will be plenty of growth in terms of Web localization. I reviewed more than a dozen Texas and California banks and only found one that offered Spanish content: Laredo National Bank. And Web localization is just the most obvious opportunity for translation agencies; banks will also find they need to translate signage, loan application forms, advertising collateral and even human resources materials.

For a list of companies that currently offer Web sites for the US Hispanic market, we now offer a rapidly growing directory.

Free Guide to the Spanish Speaking Market

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Multilingual Computing has published a “Guide to the Spanish Speaking World.” It includes an article from yours truly on Web localization for the US Hispanic market; in the article I profile Southwest Airlines, which recently launched a fully featured Spanish-language flight reservation engine.

Additional articles talk about the variations of Spanish around the world as well as in-depth information on Spanish in the US market. Overalll, it’s a great resource and best of all, it’s free.

You can download the report here.

Cox Begins “Transcreating” Spanish

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Cox Communications announced yesterday that it is rolling out Spanish-langauge bills in selected markets. Here is the press release.

I found an interesting new term in the release: transcreating. This is just another term for localization, and I’m not sure I like it any better. But its use does underscore the limitations of terms like localization and internationalization. Here is the quote:

Cruz noted that Cox is the first major cable company to offer customers a “bundled bill” in Spanish, meaning that the new billing feature is available with not only Cox Cable, but also Cox Digital Telephone and Cox High Speed Internet. As with Cox’s current billing options, customers of multiple Cox services who choose the new Spanish-language bill can elect to receive a single bill or separate bills for each service. “Certainly, there is much more to offering a billing statement in Spanish than simply translating the existing bill. We took great care in ‘transcreating’ our statement to ensure that every section is clear, understandable and culturally relevant to our Spanish-speaking customers,” Cruz noted. “We also looked carefully at our customer service functions to ensure we offer excellent customer care at all levels of contact. This includes having customer service representatives who speak Spanish. We’ve also enhanced our web site, http://www.cox.com , to allow customers to view their Spanish- language bills and access other online customer support features in Spanish.”

    When Cox launches the Spanish support pages for the San Diego market, I’ll provide more detail. However, if all they’re doing is adding a language preference option on the customer’s account information page, I doubt that this will be enough to ensure widespread usage. Cox needs to launch a full-scale Spanish Web site. Perhaps support is the first step.

    As a side note, in our recent report we found that marketing initiatives tend to be what drive Web localization, not support initiatives. Cox appears to be an exception to that trend.