More than just Bilingual.

In the marketing world, language and the use of words are important in targeting the different types of audiences. However, in the Hispanic marketing world, understanding the significance behind the language of choice when trying to appeal to the diversified Hispanic societies in the U.S is of crucial importance. According to the U.S Census Bureau, 31 billion Hispanic residents aged 5 and older speak Spanish and amongst these groups, more than half say they speak English very well. This study does not consider those individuals who have Hispanic roots and speak English only, but in a sense are part of the Hispanic culture as well. With such a vast array of Spanish and English speaking Hispanics in the United States, it is hard for marketers to make a decision on what products to market in what language.

In recent years, a new phenomenon has immerged in the current discussions of Hispanic marketers and media: Spanglish. The existence of Spanglish impacted the preferences and purchasing orientation of the younger generations, which already have a stronger power in the decision-making process at home. Spanglish has become another language spoken by Hispanics. In the academic linguistic world, Spanglish is a type of code-switching in which two or more languages are used in the same conversation held by two bilingual persons. Some who are fully bilingual consider Spanglish to be their third language, while others see it as a deterioration of the Spanish language.

However, it is important to understand that Spanglish has several derivations, and has a negative connotation as well. One thing is to start a sentence in Spanish and finish it in English while keeping a total comprehension of the context, and another is to use words like ‘wateria’ or ‘parquear,’ which show a weakening of the Spanish language. A good strategy for marketers would be targeting younger audiences using conversations that use English and Spanish interchangeably within the same perspective. This is the type of Spanglish that would be more productive for marketing.

The media has seen the influence of Spanglish in magazines and movies. For instance, in the popular youth magazine Latina, a sort-of Cosmopolitan for young Hispanic women, articles are either in English or Spanish, and others are a mixture of both languages. Hollywood has taken the idea a little further and created a film called Spanglish, about a young woman and her daughter who move to America in search of a better life – without speaking a drop of English. The daughter, who perfectly adapted to the American language and culture, served as a medium between the English world and the Spanish world for the mother. This is an example of the influence of the youth on the purchasing power of the older generations.

Marketers constantly struggle on the importance of targeting audiences in different languages; nevertheless, it is important to understand that this must be done depending on the context of the message trying to be sent. Spanglish is a phenomenon of recent years, thus a seller wouldn’t want to use it when targeting grandparents who came directly from Latin America. On the other hand, if you’re trying to sell electronics or clothing, maybe the use of Spanglish will appeal to the emotion of the youth with more effectiveness because it would remind them of their culture, and stay close to their new American identity as well. After all, Spanglish is more than just being bilingual; it also involves the understanding of both languages in the same context.

Monica Martinez
Florida Sate University

Skiba, Richard. Code Switching as a Countenance of Language Interference. The Internet TESL Journal. Vol. III, No. 10. October 1997. http://iteslj.org/Articles/Skiba-CodeSwitching.html> February 6, 2006.