July 27, 2005
Communicate Effectively
Session: How to communicate effectively with Hispanic Audiences (Parts 1 and 2)
Featured a panel of speakers
These notes are from Laura Sternweis, Extension communications specialist
Overall notes from panel
• Ask to see TV and radio stations’ “public file” to find out the needs of who they serve and who they’re trying to reach to keep their license.
• Check what publications are available in Mexican restaurants (one way to find out which media reach Hispanic audiences)
• “Free food guarantees a free press.” (Joe Sandoval, Editor of La Prensa)
Notes from Bill Watson’s (Texas A&M) presentation in this session on Extension en Español
• Show respect for the audience, the individual, the language.
• Find a champion who understands the rules of the language, grammar, syntax of Spanish. Show the same respect for, and use the same care with any item in Spanish as you would in English.
• DO NOT use automatic translator programs.
• For marketing stuff – it’s not translation, it’s interpretation, and you need a bilingual/bicultural person to do it.
• His best guess – cost of translation is 10 to 13 cents per word up to 25 cents per word for technical translation.
• He suggests three steps: 1) translator translates the piece, 2) editor edits it, 3) bilingual subject matter specialist reviews it.
• You can include Extension en Español in your grants as principal investigators.
• If you have a major thrust and need long-term assistance, include Extension en Español as a budget item.
• Put Spanish and English together in your publications catalog and website. DO NOT use a separate Spanish section.
• Leave your university name alone in the wordmark (don’t translate it)
• Putting the comma inside the quote marks is WRONG.
• Titles – first word and proper names are capped, the rest are lower case.
• Word division is different (Spanish vs. English hyphenation).
• There is one Spanish standard for print, etc. (Read the section on dialects on the Extension en Español website.
• In a translation, use the first most popular term (and include the second most popular in parentheses). Example – peanut has more than one translation, cacahuate (maní).
• Find community leaders to help you.