George Lopez began the discussion of politics by touting the idea of running for Mayor of Los Angeles himself, by stating, “I believe that there are certain things that could be taken care of that you don’t need a strong political background in.” 

Yet, when discussing his disgust with Sarah Palin George Lopez says, “I like my politicians to actually have a political background, to know politics, to actually have inherited something from working in the political world.”

So what’s it going to be, political experience or no experience?  I guess for him you don’t need a political background and experience to manage the 2^nd most populous city in the United States.  Maybe liberals are fine with electing people with no experience but demand that conservatives have a 10 page resumé.

While I gather my thoughts for some original content, I thought I would share a post from my friend in response to Ruben Navarette’s column, “Has Marco Rubio Sold Out?”  I’d like to add that Rubio’s opinion on immigration has not changed since when he first campaign, so why is Navarette and others making a big deal about it now?  If they were in Florida they would have noticed that several Spanish editorials did not endorse him over that one issue, immigration.  Since when were we (Hispanics) single-issue voters?

Senator Marco Rubio: Tio Tomas or Free Thinker?

By: Rafael Rivadeneira

I must give kudos to Ruben Navarette for being an equal-opportunity anti-amnesty basher. He goes after Democrats and Republicans who vote against amnesty and has done a good job of documenting (no pun intended) the lengths that Democrats have gone to vote against amnesty despite the overall perception that only Republicans vote against amnesty.

That said, in “Has Marco Rubio Sold Out?” the liberal Ruben Navarette exposes just how far the Left has yet to go in race relations. We can only hope that one day, the Left will allow Latinos to have minds of our own.

In his critique of Rubio’s “pandering” on immigration reform, Navarette writes, “This self-proclaimed ‘son of exiles’ has it all wrong. It’s fine to be tough on immigration, but you don’t have to be predictable and shallow. When that happens, people assume you’re not really thinking through this issue but simply following the herd and pandering to the special interests controlling your party.”

If the Left does assume that Rubio is simply pandering, it’s because they are not yet able to believe that Latinos actually have our own thoughts, opinions and feelings. Perhaps it’s because it’s easier for the “special interest controlling” the Democrat Party to “manage” us if we’re assumed to all think, act and believe the same way.

Newsflash: Like snowflakes and every other ethnic group on earth, no two Latinos are alike. We don’t cook our beans the same way—let alone vote the same way. We are not the same—culturally or individually.

It’s ridiculous that this point has to be brought up—just as it would be ridiculous to assume all Caucasians feel the same on any one issue. I doubt anyone would ever accuse a Caucasian who is “easy” on immigration of selling out her people.

It’s time the Left allows for some diversity within the Latino community. They need to see and acknowledge that we are a large group of separate-minded individuals—and that Latinos disagree on many things. But this is what many people on the Left—like Navarette—seem to fear. Rubio effectively communicates Conservative principles and he is able to speak fearlessly of how the Democrats’ big-government agenda hinders Hispanics by limiting freedom and opportunity.

Politicians need to see that many Latinos actually oppose amnesty and support existing immigration laws and securing our border. We support it not because we are heartless, not because we are panderers, and not because we are selling out anybody. We support it because we believe we need a fair and smart way to allow people from all over the world to enter this country legally.

Navarette claims that Rubio “has squandered the one thing that made him unique, interesting and valuable to his party: the potential that he could help mend fences with disaffected Latino voters alienated by the GOP’s simplistic and mean-spirited approach to the immigration issue.”

Many in the GOP—including myself—still believe that Rubio offers something beyond his Spanish blood. In fact, many of us are quite disgusted to read a sentence like this from Navarette in which we reduce a fellow, complex human to simply his skin tone and last name. In which we take a full man and make him a token. Talk about mean-spirited.

But what Navarette also fails to realize is that Republicans—or any politicians who are willing to run on ideas for a better future—do not need a majority of Hispanics to win elections, they need a majority of Americans. And Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Susana Martinez (NM), Gov. Brian Sandoval (NV) and others have shown that you can be a Republican and not toe the “liberal Hispanic” party line on immigration and still win elections even in states with a high Hispanic population.

They are elected by constituents who actually see past race and ethnicity and who embrace the ideas presented. That’s the place we need to get to in this country, not continuing to believe that an entire ethnic group needs to vote and think in lock-step.

You will never completely satisfy everyone.  Some Latinos get offended when you describe them as Hispanic and some Hispanics are offended when called Latino.  Then you have others who get offended when you use either.  Some prefer to be called Mexican-American, Dominican-American, Cuban-American, Colombian-American, and so on.  Others prefer to be associated by their country of origin such as Mexican, Dominican, Colombian, or by region like Tejano or Nuyorican. Then what about Puerto Ricans given that they are Americans to begin with?

Some say we should be called Spanish Speaking-Americans, however many Hispanics (like 2nd and 3rd generation) are English dominant yet they are very in-tune with their Latino culture.  Also, the term Spanish Speaking-American can then offend los gringos and some Hispanics who believe there should only be English Speaking-Americans or yearn for English to be the official language of the United States.

Could I confuse you anymore?  Perhaps this will give you a better idea:

A 2006 survey by the Pew Hispanic Center found that 48% of Latino adults generally describe themselves by their country of origin first; 26% generally use the terms Latino or Hispanic first; and 24% generally call themselves American on first reference. As for a preference between “Hispanic” and “Latino”, a 2008 Center survey found that 36% of respondents prefer the term “Hispanic,” 21% prefer the term “Latino” and the rest have no preference.

Google graph of the search terms "Hispanic" and "Latino."

In the world of Google, when comparing search terms using Hispanic and Latino there is an overall preference to use the word Latino.  In the last 12 months “Latino” averages a 60-point lead over “Hispanic” with a closer margin during September and October (which happens to be Hispanic Heritage Month).

Here is a breakdown:

1. Hispanic and Latino are not a race.

2. Hispanic is a government endorsed term and likely to be used in formal institutions whereas Latino originated within the community and likely to be used in informal settings.

3. Hispanic can be defined as people with origins in Spanish-speaking countries, however Latino would include people of all Latin America, which consists of the Portuguese-speaking country, Brazil.

4. Latino seems to be the trendier term right now.

So when you are reaching out to a predominant Latino audience or talking about Hispanics in general and you’re in doubt, use Hispanic and Latino interchangeably, just like I did in this post, so that you will at least satisfy just about everyone.  And last but not least, if you happen to be speaking about Hispanic females, like me, use Latina versus Latino!

Over the years I continue to get a kick out of challenging people when they ask a simple question, “where are you from?”  I would frequently get stopped perhaps because of my dark hair or the way I may pronounce a particular word.  The 15 years I lived in Florida was the exception, however many assumed I was Cuban-American rather than Puerto Rican.

As a child growing up in the DC metro area, I would respond by saying I was Puerto Rican or my family is from the island, nevertheless some people couldn’t believe it.  Sometimes I was told I wasn’t dark enough or because I had freckles.  I’m thinking, what the heck does an American look like, pretty much the same as a Puerto Rican, full of colors, right?  Next thing you know I’m giving a history lesson to friends and strangers!  I would talk about the Taíno Indians, the settlement of the Spaniards (who are European), the slaves from Africa, and the blending of all those cultures.

Now, as an adult, I give less history lessons and focus more on getting people to think deeper.  For instance, last year while taking my son to a new barbershop, I assume that after calling my son’s name (a mix of Italian and Spanish) the barber asked me where I was from.  I replied, “Florida.”  He said, “No, you know what I mean…what’s you’re nationality?”

Nationality?  I don’t have an accent!  If anything I may have a bit of a country south accent that rubbed off on me during my days in Tallahassee and parts of Tampa.  I smirked inside knowing what he really wanted me to say so I responded by saying, “I’m American.”  The barber gave me an irritated look and repeated, “No, you know what I really mean…what’s you’re ethnicity?”

So I explained that my parents are from Puerto Rico (technically I’m an Army Brat who was born in Germany and raised in the states) and since my family is from the island in theory we are American.  However it didn’t matter to him, the Black/African-American barber responded by saying, “I dig, so we are both minorities.”

I decided to escalate the conversation a little more and told him, “Well, to be exact, we are not a minority because if you add our groups together we are a majority.”  I guess he wasn’t amused since when I gave him a $20 bill he seemed to not have enough change to give back to me as if he wanted to keep an $8 tip.  What I did afterwards to get my change back is for another blog!

It’s not the barber’s fault, nor the fault of others for feeling the need to ask what a person’s ethnicity is.  Unlike other countries, we always ask that question from the minute we are born.  From birth certificates to school registrations, from the census to employment applications it will always be imbedded in our minds.  So let me ask you, where are you from?

Civil War recruitment flyer in German at the Gettysburg Museum.

Written for The Americano.

The boycotts of CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) have shown us the vast diversity among conservatives; the social, fiscal, and those for a strong national defense. This held true even among the topics of immigration and Hispanics or Nativists versus the Melting Pot. Last week’s three-day conference provided 4 sessions which were clearly on opposite ends of the spectrum, a couple of which some would perceive as divisive.

On Day One, before the breakout session, “Policy Recommendations for Real Immigration Reform,” Rep. Steve King (IA) addressed the topic during his speech and scared the audience by stating that the majority of all illegal immigrants are criminals (not criminal as in living in the U.S. illegally). His comment came after discussing the drug war in which 90% of the drugs imported into the United States come from the south border. The immigration reform panel took the same grandiose stage after King to further provide solutions, however, it was a wasted space since only a handful of people attended. Arizona, the Dream Act, Green Cards, English as the official language, and Birthright Citizenship were all discussed.

The most controversial session came on Day Two where the Youth for Western Civilization (YWC) sponsored the breakout session, “Will Immigration Kill the GOP?” It was a standing room filled with YWC students in black shirts with white gothic Germanesque lettering reminiscent of the Nazi’s use of fonts for propaganda materials. At first glance, one attendee whispered that they were the United States version of the Nazi movement.

Their first speaker was former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo, who throughout his 30 minutes of speaking ripped on Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush, and the Heritage Foundation on their efforts to communicate with Hispanics. He supported an audience member’s comment that organizations that have information available in Spanish is a form of pandering and is offensive and recommended, “If you are a big contributor they’ll listen to you.” Tancredo stated the GOP gets on average 35% of the Hispanic vote “whether you are the most pro-amnesty Republican or not.” In essence, he was suggesting that there is no reason for the Republican Party to make an effort.

Then came the ex-Virginia Congressman, Virgil Goode, the former Republican, Independent, and Democrat who is now a member of the Constitution Party. He believes illegal immigration will kill our healthcare system and that both legal and illegal immigrants are negatively affecting our government and employment stating that “the many who immigrate here want to put us in a path to socialism” and socialized medicine. Goode then demanded that the U.S. reduce issuing the number of Visas and Green Cards each year. Hmmm, wouldn’t reducing it lead to more illegal immigration?

At the end of his speech Goode received a loud applause when he stated, “The topic of our debate is, will immigration kill the GOP? Let me tell you, illegal & massive legal immigration, like we have right now, will not only kill the GOP it will kill the United States of America.” Thank goodness neither him nor Tancredo are members of the Republican Party.

On the final third day of CPAC, participants somehow managed to squeeze into the smallest and hottest room possible for the topic on, “Conservative Inclusion.” Some attendees felt as if CPAC purposely and discriminately scheduled the breakout session in a secluded room, after all the YWC had a room three times as large without a obstructing block in the middle. The consensus of the panel was that outreach to particular groups is not a form of pandering rather a form of communicating. If Conservatives and Republicans change their message and principles then of course it would be deemed pandering.

Timothy Johnson, Ph.D. of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, suggested that if we change the language we could change the outcome such as saying I’m a Christian or an American before saying I’m a minority. He continued to recommend that we should focus on discussing our social and economic principles while bragging about our history for example, as the party of Abolishment. Grover Norquist interjected and affirmed, “We should not start the conversation before an election” however years before.

Later that day in the main ballroom CPAC hosted it’s own failed session called, “Changing the Conversation: Winning with Minorities, Women, and Independents.” A great title, however the panelists went on to provide statistics and stories. For the most part, political junkies are aware of the statistics and look forward to such discussions as they are in search of solutions to change those numbers around. One panelist, Margaret Hoover, generically concluded, “If we believe our policies are good for everyone than why do we have to actively court women, minorities or independents? It may be obvious to us but not everyone is getting the message. We have to actively sell ourselves to these groups. Customize our message but not change it. Talk about how it is beneficial to them.”

Next year I challenge more Hispanic organizations and professionals to cough up some cash to sponsor several breakout sessions in order to further educate CPAC attendees. Money talks in these types of events, don’t expect to be invited to speak. Let’s share our stories as immigrants, as people who do make an effort to speak English, as entrepreneurs and soldiers who are not changing American culture but strengthening it with our strong values of family, faith, and work ethics. Let’s talk about the Unites States of America’s history and remind people that it was not long ago when the recruiting flyers were printed in German during the Civil War (as pictured above) and so on.

2010 was a great example of how several outside conservative organizations influenced the elections far more than from within the money-strapped party.  In the past year and recent months, new groups and forums have been created specifically to reach out to Hispanics with a conservative message with the goal influencing upcoming elections.  Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush, and Jeb Bush Jr. established The Americano, The Hispanic Leadership Network, and SunPAC.  In February 2009, the American Principles Project launched Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles and last month the Heritage Foundation introduced Libertad.org.  All of these organizations are geared to engage, influence, and motivate Hispanics to vote conservative (for the most part, Republican).

There is still hope for the party in doing what it is suppose to do which is getting Republicans elected.  So here are some ideas for the party to better engage and embrace Hispanics…

1. Consider adopting a marketing and strategy approach versus typical political consulting and literal translations or appointing someone to head up Hispanic Outreach just because they are Hispanic.  What I have seen and heard from many Hispanic Republican activists is that whenever the party hires someone to manage their Hispanic outreach program they are never given a budget to fully execute a plan or they are subjected to act more as a liaison and speak at Republican clubs or meetings.  Hello!!  There is not that many Hispanics involved within the party to begin with, so how can going to an REC meeting be called outreach? We have to work within the community not just with fellow Republicans.

2.   Enough with the coalitions they don’t do anything (read my previous post, Coalitions are so Old School).

3.   Invest in participating in cultural or music related events where there will be a large Hispanic presence.  Some events attract 1,000 or 50,000 attendees.  In the professional world of public relations and marketing we call this Experiential Marketing. Studies indicate that 74% of Latinas and 66% of Latinos are more likely to buy a product after an experiential marketing event.  Imagine whom they would vote for if they had the opportunity to interact with someone within the party or candidate.

4.   Consistently Communicate with the Spanish media, especially with English and Spanish press releases.  How can you expect the Spanish media to be fair and balanced if they have no information from our point of view?  Every once in a while the RNC or RPOF (Republican Party of Florida) would send out a translated press release when it was related to topics such as Cuba/Castro or an upcoming organized Hispanic GOP event.  The top 3 concerns for Hispanics are the Economy/Jobs, Education, and Healthcare therefore if the RNC and RPOF have statements in regards to policies that relate to those issues they should share it with the Latino community as well.  Although many Hispanic journalists are bilingual and can translate stories it is best if the party has press releases already prepared in Spanish so that there are no errors or misinterpretation; it also makes the journalist more receptive since they typically copy/paste materials all day long.

5.   Create a Surrogate program. It is difficult for one person to handle all communications efforts even if there is one person dedicated to a Hispanic outreach program. A few years ago the RPOF created the Hispanic Leadership Council that consisted of approximately 25 members from across the state, however no one spoke on behalf of the party for interviews or discussions.  There were many well-qualified volunteers in the Council that with adequate training and up-to-date talking points could have been able to reach the masses within their local Spanish community and media outlets.

6.   Engage via the Internet. Ever since Obama became president the party (the RNC and other state parties) have eliminated their “Español” section on their website.  Perhaps it was the result of people calling it a form of pandering or the pressure that everyone in the US should speak English?  (Read previous posts, Get Over the ‘Speak English Only’ Mentality and Latinos Say ‘Talk to Me Online.’) There is also 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanics who prefer English but are attracted to information that they can relate to culturally.  There are many successful sources that incorporate a mix of English and Spanish such as Newt Gingrich’s TheAmericano.com. The party should not limit themselves to only redeveloping their websites, but should also connect with Latinos by extending themselves to social networks like Twitter and Facebook.  Studies indicate that Hispanics spend 4.5 hours more online than non-Hispanics and we need to engage them in through these new communication tools.

7.   Consider long-term consistent messaging that will prevent the perception of pandering and shows that the party is genuinely trying to communicate with the Latino community.  Don’t wait to the last minute to consider reaching out to Hispanic voters.  In my experience when that happens there is no budget set aside to successfully execute a targeted Hispanic campaign.

8.   Stop using the word Outreach. It appears as if Republicans see themselves over in one corner while Latinos are far away in another corner.  Start thinking like Dr. Frank Luntz and use ‘words that work’ like Embrace, Engage, Empower, Communicate, and so on.

As you can see there is much more to attracting Hispanic voters then just hiring someone and having them sit on the sidelines.  It is allowing that individual to put forth a strategy along with a budget and executing it.

A recent study from the Pew Research Center indicated that Hispanics index higher than any other group on Twitter: 18% of online-Latinos have a Twitter account versus 13% of Blacks and 5% of Caucasians.  People say Hispanics are naturally very sociable and have a strong commitment to keeping families and friends close and it is quite evident on the Internet.  Now that it has become affordable to own a computer Hispanics are using it as a tool to stay connected with friends and family in the states and in Latin America.  Many of them realize it is more cost-effective to skype, facebook, tweet, and blog in order to check-in with folks or to arrange an event like a quinceñera.  No longer do Latinos have to head to the bodega and buy a pre-paid phone card.

They are reading and writing both in English and Spanish, however since there isn’t much content available in Spanish they are limited on the kind of information they receive or want to receive should they be googling in Spanish.  For example if you were to search for “partido republicano” only two sites come up from the United States, one of which is a Spanish description on Wikipedia.  The rest of the top 20 listings are from unrelated Republican parties in other countries along with a couple of articles that had those two words written within a story.  The funny thing is when you click on the RNC link all you get is content in English!

Why would any American company or organization want their potential customers or voters going to a website that is meant for people in other countries?  Why would they want to loose their audience to a competitor who is ahead of the game by providing content in Spanish or a dedicated Latino bilingual section within their site?  The United States is the 2^nd largest Spanish-speaking country behind Mexico and before Spain.  This is the time to take advantage of an underserved market and stand out amongst a very small crowd.

Companies that are looking to gain consumers within the growing Hispanic market are already investing in developing Spanish websites.  There are those specializing in news content like Fox News Latino or The Americano that are providing content in both Spanish and English.  The reason for combining the languages is that they realize the diversity among the Latino market and understand that although 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanics are more proficient in English they are still attracted to things that give them a cultural connection.

The people who are missing out on this opportunity is my own party from the state levels to the RNC.  They have gone backwards in time from having an “Español” section to completely eliminating it.  I can’t say much for the Democrats either…they at least have minimal content in Spanish but fail to keep it up to date with current press releases, etc.  Newt Gingrich is going beyond theAmericano.com site and tweets frequently using two twitter handles (@NewtGingrich and @GingrichEspanol). Come on, how old and busy is this guy?!  He is obviously not spending all day updating his website or social networks but he does realize the importance of capturing an audience in today’s form of communication and has invested wisely.

Whoever executes an amazing Hispanic campaign using various online platforms first will gain their trust and loyalty.  Toyota is a perfect example of orchestrating a well executed Hispanic social media campaign.  They launched a campaign called “Somos Muchos Latinos”  in which they relied heavily on interacting with their audience via their Facebook Fanpage, Toyota Latino.  And guess what?  They follow up with a dedicated Spanish website, Toyota.com/espanol.

Politics are not that different than corporations…they both are trying to create a loyal following whether it is to convince an audience to purchase a product or to vote for a party/candidate.  Unfortunately in the political world they have a hard time accepting that engaging Hispanic voters takes more than appointing a “token Hispanic” to lead the effort rather than considering a cultural marketing approach that goes beyond just translating.

What happened in my case, was although they never published the story a couple of the local Spanish papers and non-Spanish news outlets would contact me for interviews or a ‘point of view’ on issues.  Well, the one thing everyone knows, maybe not in the press world, is that coalitions don’t mean you are necessarily an official surrogate.

One one occasion, I was threatened by a campaign staffer not to appear on a 30-minute news program in which I was invited to attend to discuss the expectations of Hispanic voters in Florida.  He insisted that this had to be handled by official surrogates such as a Senator and former Governor and if I did proceed to go on the show I would face repercussions such as ruining my career/business and damaging any relationships with any potential clients.

Well, he could not lock in any of his two surrogates and called the news station to cancel the program/topic.  Soon after, the show’s producer called me and said they would still go on and unfortunately would be one-sided since the two Democrats that were invited confirmed to appear.  I could not let that happened therefore I gave my resignation from a volunteer position and found another Republican Latina to go with me.

This could have been avoided if perhaps coalitions incorporated a little of what surrogacy is all about.  The people who do read the list of coalitions will look at the list as a group of people who not only support a candidate or policy but a group of people who are well qualified to give opinion.  So my advice is…consider putting people on ‘the list’ that are comfortable speaking and keep them up to date with talking points, since it is important to stay on message, otherwise it is pointless to have a coalition.

If they are not allowed to communicate, oh well, that’s fine but put them to use.  For example, have a couple of conference calls to discuss issues that are important for Hispanic voters or help them take the lead in organizing a “meet & greet” so that Latinos have an opportunity to meet the candidate.  One coalition I was on did not discuss their position before they held a press conference on immigration and sure enough several members made public statements about their disappointment with the candidate.  The campaign tried to organize a conference call with the coalition two days after the press conference but 15 minutes before the scheduled call it was cancelled.  Gee, I wonder why!

For the most part coalitions are not responsible for communicating but if campaigns expand their list of available surrogates regionally then perhaps the media won’t call upon coalition members.  It’s not easy for the small news organizations to arrange or get a statement/ interview with a Senator or former Governor when they want a Hispanic point of view.  The Tampa and Orlando Spanish market (for example) are not going to Miami for information and they are not going to wait for campaigns to send someone to them.  In a state as large as Florida it would be wise to arrange an ethnically diverse list of Hispanic surrogates across the state since Latinos in South Florida are quite different than the I-4 Corridor.

Photo provided by Jorge Hurtado

Last Thursday, I attended a Forum for and about Hispanic conservatives hosted by The Americano & Newt Gingrich. Of course the hot topics throughout the event were about immigration and the Dream Act.  Some people just made general statements such as “I support the Dream Act,” while others stated they supported “A Dream Act,” meaning not the version that is currently being discussed.

However, there were other discussions that struck accord with me such as the topics of engaging Hispanic voters, Hispanic Media, & Social Networking.  One of the sponsors and speakers was Jeb Bush, Jr. who recently launched SunPAC in Florida that revolves around engaging Hispanic voters.  Check out their developing website at www.sunpacfl.com or find them on facebook. Here is someone who has realized the GOP’s lack of effective communication when reaching out to Hispanics specifically in Florida. The goal for SunPAC, through raising funds, is to pick up where the party or candidates left off by marketing the principles of the GOP to Hispanics via various communication tools, traditional and direct/social media and advertising.

During a panel discussion veteran advertising and media consultant, Lionel Sosa mentioned, “Advertising can solve every problem.”  The problem Bush and the other founders of SunPAC recognize is the GOP’s ineffectiveness in engaging Hispanic voters and they are looking to fill that void through aggressive campaigns.  Perhaps that is why other conservative organizations have come about in the last year such as the Hispanic Leadership Network and Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles who are investing their time and money on “real” Hispanic outreach, or what I prefer to call Hispanic engagement.

During the breakout session, ” Hispanic Media and its Impact,” we were reminded of the importance of Hispanic media (radio, television, print, & social media). For example, Univision has more viewers than any of the networks alone. So wouldn’t it be wise to invest advertising dollars during the 8pm block on Univision versus ABC or any of the cable outlets?

So here we have, many like-minded individuals discussing ways to efficiently reach out to an underserved market, however it seemed like there was an absence of decision makers within the Republican party, staffers/aides, political consultants or strategists that are responsible for all sorts of outreach efforts and communications.  Although there were other discussions about terrorism, democracy, socialism, healthcare and education I know these decision makers would have obtained plenty of viable information to make better judgments in regards to reaching out to Hispanic voters.

TheAmericano.com was started to start a conservative dialogue among Hispanics, but at the same time I really encourage non-Hispanics to take a look at what is on their bilingual website…it’s not that hard to read in the parts that are in English!

By the way, you can read an op-ed I submitted for The Americano here.

The other situation we came across during the Hispanic voter outreach and awareness campaign occurred with print materials.  Again, the lead firm provided us translated materials.  We ripped it apart and had to rewrite it.  The problem was that certain words were incorrectly used and some was written in language more representative of particular country of origin.

Just because Hispanics speak Spanish, doesn’t mean we use the same phrases or have a common dialect.  Translation needs to be done on a cultural level in what the Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations industry calls, Transcreation.  For example, in our office we have a Puerto Rican, Peruvian, and Colombian working together to Transcreate.  One of us will begin in putting the words together then we all look at it to determine the proper terminology in which all Hispanics can understand.  We go through many revisions.

One example during the voter outreach campaign (examples below) was a headline stating, “The Secure, Easy Way to Fill the Oval Office,” in which each O was filled in with a black pen.  In Spanish they wanted to use the words, “Oficina Oval” or Despacho Oval” which are the literal translations for Oval Office.

We explained that oval office was a coined American phrase and would not be familiar with foreign-born Hispanics in particular.  We recommended using La Oficina del Presidente (the President’s office), however it was too long to fit in the pre-sized dimensions, or La Casa Blanca (the White House).  The firm and the SOE office disagreed that it did not have enough O’s like Oficina Oval.  We asked what was more important, to have enough O’s or to get people’s attention?  Again we used a focus group to make a point.  In the end Casa Blanca won.

SOE Examples: Transcreation at work

Sometimes errors in translation are not due to cultural difference but lack of common sense.  Here are a few other notable translation mistakes:

• The Dairy Association’s successful “Got Milk?” campaign at one time asked Latinos, “Are you Lactating?”

• During a visit from the Pope, a t-shirt company printed shirts that read, “I saw the Potato” because they used the feminine       version (la papa) of the word “the” instead of the masculine (el papa).

• Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus^® said, “Bring your goats to the circus” instead of “kids” in a commercial used in   California.  They used chivitos (goats) instead of the Mexican slang chavitos (kids).  The best advice is to avoid slang or phrases familiar with a particular Latino group and stick with something that all Hispanics can understand; in this case  hijos would have been better.

Nowadays Spanglish is often used because it reaches most Hispanics especially those that have a preference of English over Spanish and usually brings about humor.  However the examples below show that if one is not careful it can be offending to some.

• “Our Huevos are Bigger” billboard campaign by the Stripes Convenience Store in Brownsville, Texas.  Even though huevos means eggs it is also a slang term to describe a particular male body part.

• The Tecate Beer billboard that had as image of it’s bottled beer with a tagline saying, “Finally a Cold Latina.”  Not so much a Spanglish ad, but it did offend many Hispanic females.

In conclusion, be careful with who you bring into your team that will be responsible for engaging Hispanic voters.  Remember it is not about someone who is Hispanic rather someone or several people who understand the cultural linguistic disparities and generational differences.   Also, it does not hurt to have a bilingual surrogate to travel with you when you attend a cultural event.  In some cases you will come across people who prefer Spanish and will be more comfortable to talk to your surrogate.

In addition, remember that transcreating is about taking the concept in one language and completely recreating it in another language whereas translators tend to translate in their own native language.  Fluency in a foreign language doesn’t automatically qualify someone to transcreate; it requires a communication or marketing background.