With a projected 45 percent in the U.S. Latino population by 2025, corporate strategies should adapt to Latino culture and language.

A recent study predicts that the increase in the number of Spanish speakers in the next two decades will sharpen the need to speak Spanish in order to conduct business. For several years, English-speaking companies have detected the need to be present in this market, however, obstacles like differences in culture have made the process difficult.

Jose Cancela, director of Hispanic USA, the company that funded the study conducted by Roslow Research Group, told Hoy via telephone from Miami that in 2025 over 12 million Spanish speakers will join the United States population.

“By that date there will be a total of 40 million Spanish speakers in the country. That means the language is here to stay,” said Cancela.

The report also reveals that 30 percent of third-generation Hispanics will keep speaking Spanish.

Another study funded by Terra Network and Socratic Technologies reveals that 51 percent of the Hispanic immigrants who have lived in the United States for over 20 years prefer to communicate in Spanish. However, only 3 percent want to continue communicating in English and Spanish.

Nonetheless, “the first and foremost problem that we have detected is that some American companies pretend to attract the attention of the Hispanic market by communicating with them in English. Big mistake!” says Arcadio Andrade, director of translation from Motion Point, a company that offers translation services from English to Spanish and updates web pages for large corporations.

Another common mistake is that corporations make literal translations of their company strategies from English to Spanish without any interpretation of the cultures they are trying to reach, observed Emily Tell, executive director of www.tellmealgo.com, a translation company with headquarters in New York. “But fortunately this tendency is being corrected because corporations are broadening their departments of multicultural diversity,” says Tell.

Fernando Rodriguez, president of Terra Network, agrees that simply translating is not enough; it is important to adapt your marketing efforts to the culture and demographic profile of your target audience. “During the five years that Terra has been in the market, we have helped pharmaceutical and auto companies tailor their campaigns and messages to the Hispanic market with a cultural and emotional component,” he said over the phone from Coral Gables, Florida.

Purchasing power

As well, the Hispanic community will reach 102.6 million people in the next 45 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In addition, Hispanic Telligence affirmed that today Latino purchasing power reaches $700,000 million, 8.5 percent of the total purchasing power in the United States.

According to these predictions, it is estimated that in 2007 the purchasing power of the Hispanic population will be $1 billion, according to the Hispanic Telligence. “It’s inevitable imagining the impact that these figures will have on commerce,” said Andrade.

“We have seen our roster of clients grow expeditiously. Today our projects are diverse, including clothes and accessories, hotel and travel, food, health, government and legal.

“Some of our clients representatives from their sector are Pillsbury, Puma, Goodyear, Sears, Gillete, Condado Yuma, Arizona and Consumers Guide, which is a federal project,” reported Andrade.

The companies today have to find alternative ways to obtain a competitive advantage and, the Spanish language is definitely one of them.