Bilingual Voiceover and Marketing to Hispanics

Our good friend and super-talented voice actor Doug Turkel recently shared this insightful article with us, “The Importance of Marketing to Hispanics Online in Spanish” by Walter Godinez, which ties in beautifully with our experience in our bilingual voiceover profession.

As Godinez explains “By the year 2017, the U.S. Hispanic buying power in the United States will equal $1.7 trillion dollars and by the year 2020 the population will represent almost 20 percent of the entire U.S. population.” These statistics show the increasing power of the Hispanic consumer and the increasing need for advertisements and e-learning materials to be in Spanish.

A Bilingual, Bi-Cultural Generation

As the Hispanic population in the U.S. continues to grow, the Spanish language remains important, both culturally and linguistically, to every Hispanic generation. While most Hispanics are bi-cultural, constantly shifting between English and Spanish, marketing that is authentic to Hispanic culture is the most effective way to reach the Hispanic population. However, authentic Hispanic marketing is more than just adding tacos and llamas!

As fluent or semi-fluent Spanish speakers, the Hispanic population in the U.S. appreciates accurately translated and voiced advertising that reflects their culture and identity. Making truly bilingual content targeting Hispanics requires an emphasis on quality in both language and content.

Growing Need for Content in Spanish

Producers of commercial content for and about Hispanics in the United States often hire us to voice ads that promote services and products to the Latino population. In addition, we’re frequently asked to overdub web videos, as well as voicing e-learning content for a Spanish-speaking audience. As the Hispanic population in the United States increases, the importance of educational materials in Spanish becomes necessary for the advancement of future generations. This growing group of people express themselves in both in English and Spanish. Nurturing their bi-cultural identities through bilingual content is a win-win for the producers and consumers.

Bilingual Voiceover Works Both Ways

Here is a bilingual TV commercial I voiced for Nevada Health. (Spanish spot immediately follows English spot.)  In this instance our Spanish translation expertise also came into play to help the producer move away from a literally translated script to a more colloquial read that reflected the original English – one that matches how the Latino viewer actually speaks. Sometimes we’re asked to overdub from Spanish to English to make the message accessible to a U.S. audience. Either way, we’re honored that our work helps increase the reach of important messages.

To read more about the importance of bilingual content, check out Brian’s blog post “Two Sides to Bilingual“!