When targeting global audiences, you will be more successful in growing local fanbases for your brand if you address each geographical audience in their own native language. Localizing your content not only shows that you are committed to your customers regardless of their location, it will also provide an improved user experience resulting in higher customer satisfaction. But how do you proceed with languages that have multiple local variants? In this blog post, we will zoom in on the complexity of targeting the various markets where Spanish and French is spoken.
Language is deeply rooted into people’s emotions. The way we communicate tells us a great deal about who we are. Historically, local language variants showed which tribe someone belonged to but even today in a globalized world where business communication is dominated by English, native languages continue to connect individuals to their identity, history, culture and beliefs. That’s why localization is especially critical when dealing with emotionally loaded content types, like advertising and marketing. There, your goal is to connect with people and to make them feel engaged.
But also in technical communication, users attach great importance to local language use. Providing your documentation in local variants will help readers process information better, making content easier to understand and products easier to use.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his mother language that goes to his heart.” – Nelson Mandela
Local Spanish variants
Spanish is the world’s second most spoken language in terms of native speakers (after Mandarin Chinese) and official language of 21 countries. The exploration voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492 marked the beginning of the expansion of the Spanish empire, which is the main cause for the numerous Latin American versions of Spanish spoken today. In Latin America, Spanish is spoken in no less than 19 countries with the largest number of speakers in Mexico, followed by Colombia and Argentina.
Each version of Latin American Spanish has developed into a local version over time, each of them largely differing from Castilian Spanish – the official Spanish spoken and written in Spain. Alongside the numerous local versions, there also is a general or neutral Latin American Spanish, which is commonly used on television or in technical documentation. This variant is a rather artificial form of Spanish. Although it’s not spoken by the public, it is widely accepted as a written language.
Below are some important differences between Castilian Spanish and Latin American Spanish:
Our advice when targeting Spanish speaking audiences? Always make a distinction between Castilian and Latin American Spanish when you decide to localize your products or services. For generic documentation or technical content for Latin America, the neutral variant of Latin American Spanish is widely accepted and can be a good solution for your company from a budget and version management perspective. For marketing content, it is strongly advised to target the countries individually with their own local version to obtain better sales results.
Local French variants
French is another example of an originally European language with an overseas variant and is the result of French colonialization in the 16th century. Canadian French includes both Quebec French (Québécois) and other variants from Francophone communities, in Ontario and New Brunswick among others. Today, around seven million Canadians speak French as their first language.
Besides pronunciation, the main differences between Canadian French and European French have to do with vocabulary. Canadian French has been isolated from European French since the 18th century when Canada became part of the British empire. For this reason, many words and expressions still used in Canadian French come across as archaic for a European French speaker. On the other hand, Canadian French is also strongly influenced by English and vocabulary from Aboriginal languages.
Some other notable differences:
Our advice when targeting French speaking audiences? Always make a distinction between European and Canadian French when you decide to localize your products or services. Investing in both versions for your communication and documentation will surely have a positive impact on the success of your brand.
Go local with Yamagata Europe
Not sure which local language version to use? Talk to us. We have a worldwide network of language professionals who can help you reach your audience in the right variant.
