Would South American Marketers Find My Spanish Offensive

[Steve Peters Benn]

Heya All,

I am thinking of doing some marketing in latin America (going on holiday / business meeting / seeing old school friend).

Anywho... I've been brushing up on my Spanish when I bought a Michael Thomas speak latin Spanish product where he says that Euro Spanish, like English has changed versus Latin American Spanish and is much more formal.

In other words, I could come off as a rude rude idiot. Is this a sales pitch by Mr Thomas to get me onto his advanced bootcamp, or is there a basis.

Actually, in Cuba (I'm from the UK so nothing illegal people!) I found people spoke so fast I was appalling, so maybe it is all moot! Actually, once I learned to say RON I was much much happier.

Thanks all!

[Don Schenk]

I can speak a somewhat awful version of Espanglish. By speaking it and adding enough self-designed sign language I can make myself understandable to Latinos. And if that doesn't work, I just speak louder. :-)

Y yo puedo sonar stupido.

Even among Latin American countries there is a difference in the way the language is spoken, however I find people glad you are at least trying to speak their language. They will understand that Espanol (now where is that tilde key?) is not your native tongue.

I also find people from Cuba are easier for me to understand than folks from Mexico. There are variations in spoken language within the Americas.

Have you looked into Rosetta Stone's Latin American Spanish course?

:-Don

[Steve Peters Benn]

I'm a little scared you found Cubans easier to understand, looks like I am in for a hard time.

[greenovni]

The Spanish language sounds different from each other in most countries. While all of us Spanish speakers can understand each other, the local dialects will throw us off a little.

For example:

1. Mexicans sound like they're singing
2. Dominicans stretch some words
3. Puerto Ricans talk very fast
4.Argentinians use a lot of word from Spain like:
"Vos queres ir a la playa?" where in the carribean the same phrase is said "QUIERES IR a la playa?"

For the Spanish disabled, that means: Would you like to go to the beach?

Now, Spanish people are very friendly people and understand right away that the Gringo is trying very hard to speak their language and won't look down on you.

I wish you the best on your new marketing arena

[HeySal]

All languages have dialects - look at the differences between UK and American English.

However - there are certain standards that all will understand.

Ask yourself about how you feel when you go to a website written in English and it is
choppy and full of incorrect structures or words that just don't quite hit the target in meaning? Do you consider buying from these sites?

There are only a certain amount of mistakes that person will subconsciously allow you before your credibility is impaired. Mostly this happens because people have to stop and think for a second about what meaning is - the more their eye is stopped for the purpose of understanding what is being said, the less authority the writer has. This problem is intricate because of the instinctual nature of language - won't go into it now as it's sinuous and lengthy explanation for a forum post.

Also - words have both denotative and connotative meanings that you won't understand completely unless you have been immersed in the culture of the natural speakers as at least a second language speaker. If you get those connotations wrong - your salespage is history. It's true that the meanings will shift from from one dialect district to the next, but if you get far enough off track, (and as a second language speaker with no cultural connection you will) you can do real damage to your marketing efforts.

Anyway - the point being - if you are not sure of your grammar, word connotations, etc, you really should spend the little bit extra to get a natural speaker who has actually lived within some portion of the target culture to proof-read for you before using second language literature.

[Steve Peters Benn]

Hey Sal,

Thanks for that, you are completely right of course. There will be no written Spanish involved thank goodness only spoken. However, maybe spending a little time with a native Latin Spanish might help?

[thunderbird]

When I speak Spanish, they always think I'm from another Latin American country (same goes for my English). The reason for this is that there are so many accents within Latin America. My Spanish would certainly offend South American marketers (I swear a lot)