latino lingo

Marketing y Medios is reporting that on Monday Fox Sports will announce the launch of a monthly magazine called "Fox Sports en Español" ... you'd think they could be a little more creative, huh?

The publication debuts with the April issue and will target Latinos from 18-55 plus. It will have an initial circulation of 750,000, and will be available through distribution agreements with Spanish newspapers in the top Hispanic DMAs and nationally via paid subscription, the article says.

Additionally, the magazine will be produced in 2 editions, one that caters to the Caribbean Latino who is a baseball fan and the other edition with a stronger focus on soccer. While the name is boring this is an interesting strategy. But, what happens to guys like me who love soccer from our home countries but also love baseball?

Buena suerte

If you're Latino who speaks Spanish and has a medical condition, I recommend you don't move to Hernando County, Florida.

Last night, the county commissioners indefinitely put of approving a Spanish version of its Health and Human Services Department web site, according to an article in today's St. Petersburg Times.

"We are all immigrants of this nation, but we are an English-speaking country," Commissioner Jeff Stabins is quoted as saying.

Yes, Jeff, you are right. And I, too, advocate we all learn English. My mom hired us a tutor when I was a kid and that, in addition to my personal drive, helped get me out of bi-lingual education by the third grade. And I was dropped on my head a lot as a kid my mom tells me; so, there is no reason we all can't learn English if we try.

The reality, however, is new immigrants don't come here already mastering the Queen's English but they do often come here with medical conditions like diabetes and heart disease. In addition, as Hispanics, we are pre-disposed to certain medical conditions at higher rates than Whites. Add that the growing numbers of Hispanics, and the current disparity in access to quality healthcare, which I've written about in several posts, and there is a real case for serving Hispanics in their native language when it comes to health care information and services.

While I commend the proponents of the web site for trying to take an active first step, the proposed solution of running a translation on the Web site is not one I would advocate since translations alone will not resonate with Hispanics. There are other factors besides language that we must address in our health communication to Hispanics. If they really want to serve their community, as they intend, the county should do so in a culturally relevant manner as well. The county should also elect commissioners who understand the changing nature of their constituency.

Forrester Research, the analyst firm that specializes on technology's implications on business, recently released a study that describes the three critical factors it says determines how Hispanics buy and use technology.

In a Business Wire release, Forrester says they found that Hispanics embrace technology, but prefer portable communication and music devices over PCs, home theaters, and video game systems. While fewer Hispanics are online compared to non-Hispanics, those who do go online are more likely than other groups to engage in entertainment activities like listening to Internet radio or downloading music and movies.

Based on the survey results Forrester concluded that the Hispanics are more likely to consider buying technology that is culturally relevant, accommodates both Spanish and English, and is affordable.

Tamara Barber, the researcher who wrote the report, says in the release, "Ideally, technology marketers, retailers and manufacturers will fine tune their marketing messages, cater to language differences, and when appropriate, offer low-price alternatives. All three recommendations should be employed to successfully engage the Hispanic customer."

AIM Tell-A-Vision Group is planning to attend the National Association of Television Program Executives in part to continue its efforts to have Nielsen Media Research begin measuring Hispanic TV viewing based on country of origin rather than language spoken in the home.

An article in Media Week says the dispute between AIM-TV and Nielsen surfaced in November, when AIM said Nielsen's current method of measuring Hispanic viewing of English-language TV under estimates viewership because it doesn't account for country of origin.

Nielsen counters by saying it has found the best way to measure Latino use of television was to use language spoken in the home. According to the article, executives at Nielson have said it would consider this if AIM could show credible research that country of origin plays a more important role, and if a majority of Nielsen clients petitioned for a change.

As a Hispanic of Colombian origin married to a Puerto Rican, I'm not convinced that country of origin plays a large a factor as language. I mean, we watch Caracol and WAPA, not to mention programming on English language TV, since we are bi-lingual. Does me being Colombian make me more or less inclined to watch American Idol? Does it matter how a Colombian compares to a Dominican in watching, say, Survivor?

Further, while there are large concentrations of Hispanics from one country of origin living together in many parts of the country, there are also scores more that live in bi-cultural households. I have a cousin that married a first-generation Mexican, and others who have married Caucasians (some of which are fluent in Spanish and enjoy Spanish TV programming). So, accounting for bi-cultural family viewing patterns is a very complicated matter and a fragmented approach in my opinion. After all, how are advertisers supposed to interpret data sets that now include homes where people are from 2 different countries of origin yet speak primarily Spanish at home?

I agree with most of AIM's contentions, and it's clear Nielson has a long way to go to have an accurate sample methodology. The current method is poor and tends to underrepresent our English TV viewing patterns, as AIM contends. It is also true that Nielson used research funded by Spanish language television. However, I'm just not convinced based on what I know that adding country of origin will de-complicate matters.

AIM has set up a website called Change The Sample to help make its case. Let's stay tuned ...

Thanks to Jack, The Mason Technologist, for forwarding me the story.