When a company creates an e-commerce website or marketing and promotion materials for the web, it usually spends time creating it in the language spoken in its country of origin. The web copy on the home page, the shopping card features, the advertisements, and the product descriptions are all in English for companies based in the United States, for example.
However, some business owners fail to realize that their website could be accessed by anyone around the world, and therefore their products could be bought by a customer in any country, In particular, these businesses need to start focusing more on their Spanish online market by offering the site in Spanish, or at least a Spanish translation option.
The Spanish Online Market is Enormous
Companies that don’t offer a Spanish online market on their websites and advertisements are missing out on a major market of online shoppers. The Spanish language is spoken in 44 countries by 329 million people. In fact, after Mandarin Chinese, it is the second most commonly spoken language in the entire world.
One out of every six Americans identifies as Hispanic on the 2010 census, and studies show that the young Hispanic population spends even more time online than non-Hispanics. It’s easy to see how Spanish translation services would put websites normally limited to one language in front of the eyes of more people.
Translation by Computer Might Not Do the Trick
Especially for advertising, simply running the copy through a computerized translator would not necessarily yield helpful results. Many nuances would be lost in the process. Hiring a professional Spanish translator to translate any ads or promotions online would greatly benefit the company and likely bring more customers to the business.
A human should perform the translation because there are regional variations in Spanish that could greatly affect the meaning, and a computer wouldn’t know the difference. One phrase in Mexican Spanish might be another completely in Columbian Spanish. Cultural nuances and idioms should be carefully translated when you are trying to tailor a specific message.
Hiring a Professional Spanish Translator
If you own a company and are looking to reach out to the Spanish online, you could experience serious growth if you do it right. By hiring a professional Spanish translator to make a second version of all of your online promotional materials, advertisements, product descriptions, and web copy, you are opening your business to the untapped 20% of Americans who speak Spanish.