Professional translation companies often used the term "Standard Latin American Spanish" to encompass a general Latin American audience. I want to emphasize that Hispanics from different countries can communicate very well among each other despite the nuances in language. Of course, there are many variations especially when conveying food and nutrition messages that could cause confusion if misinterpreted. For example, for many of you, the word "tortilla" evokes a visual image of a flat disk made of flour or corn. In Spain, tortilla is a potato omelette. I want to share an amusing yet eye opening anecdote. I am a faculty member at the Colombian Diabetes Association Annual Meeting. A pharmaceutical company had translated meal plans into Spanish, which were intended for distribution. The meal plan suggested that patients have two snacks daily. Snacks were translated into "bocadillo." In Colombia, "bocadillo" is guava paste. The educational materials were not distributed despite the joy it would have given many Colombians with diabetes to snack on guava paste twice daily.

The most important element of translation is translating the cultural meaning of the message. Besides translation, you need to look into "cultural adaptation" to make the message relevant instead of a literal translation that may not be achieve the communication objective.  To illustrate the point, I use this example in my presentations. The movie, "Friday the 13th" has been translated into "Martes 13" - Friday is "viernes" in Spanish and martes is "Tuesday" - So "Friday the 13th" was translated into "Tuesday the 13th" Wrong translation? No. Culturally, Latin Americans view Tuesday the 13th, not Friday, as a day of bad luck. Friday is the end of the working week and a day for fun.

Overall, it is best to prepare documents in Spanish.  If it is not possible to create documents in Spanish, use a professional translation company and request "Standard Latin American Spanish" if most of your customers are from Latin America.  First, consult with health care professionals to ensure accuracy of health content and then convene a group of bilingual individuals of different countries and provide them with the English and Spanish versions of the document. Instruct them to revise document for cultural appropriateness and make changes. Communicating the essence of the message is more important than language alone.

Thank you.

Lorena Drago MS RD CDN CDE


>>> "Schneider, Janet M." <Janet.Schneider at va.gov> 02/07/08 3:23 PM >>>

Do any of you know if there are national translation standards for
consumer health materials?  We are looking for any kind of translation
standards that can be applied to different languages, similar to the
"generic" English that news broadcasters use rather than dialects. For
example, is there a "generic" Spanish that everybody can understand,
rather than Mexican Spanish, Puerto Rican Spanish, European Spanish,
etc.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

 

Janet M. Schneider, M.A., AHIP

Chief, Library Service

James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital

13000 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

Tampa, FL 33612

813-972-7531

 


-----------------------------------------
Visit www.nyc.gov/hhc

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information in this E-Mail may be
confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely
for the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, any
disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to
be taken in reliance on this e-mail, is prohibited and may be
unlawful. If you have received this E-Mail message in error, notify
the sender by reply E-Mail and delete the message.