Do You Speak Spanish? Does It Matter?

"Not much boom for the buck in Latino marketing book" is a rather harsh review of Chiqui Cartagena's newly published book "Latino Boom! Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Business in the U.S. Hispanic Market." It is the sort of review that authors dread - well-argued, witty and dismissive.

"News Bulletin: The Hispanic/Latino market is very important, and there are enormous opportunities to increase your business by marketing to it.

"Unless you've been in a coma or on an expedition to the outer moons of Neptune, this is not really a revelation."

Oh, that hurts.

I do not know Chiqui Cartagena and have not read her book so I can't really offer an opinion as to the accuracy or fairness of the review. However, I can say the reviewer raises a number of vital questions.

The most important and obvious being "Other than language, what commonalities exist that serve to meld Spanish speakers into a single group?"

And what happens when Spanish is no longer (if, in fact, it still is) the predominant language among Hispanics. Without Spanish, do we still have enough distinguishing traits that make us undeniably Latino regardless of whether we are of Argentine, Cuban, Dominican, Mexican or Puerto Rican descent? Whether or not we are first, second or seventh generation?

I don't know. I don't have a clue even though I dedicate many of my waking hours to thinking and talking and writing about Hispanics. 

Recently, I interviewed a Hispanic media executive about young Latinos in the States. She said "You and I know it is not about language." She went on to suggest that "it" is about culture and values.

I am not so sure.

The view that culture trumps language among Latinos is certainly on the ascendant among Hispanic marketing and media executives. The Herald article refers to "Hispanic values, like love of family, children and such, are typical themes [in advertising]."

I wonder, though, if values are the most accurate way of defining a culture. Maybe so, maybe not. It strikes me that most (not all) cultures value family and children, which means Hispanic culture then becomes a question of degree rather than absolutes. That Latinos, particularly immigrants, place a relatively greater emphasis on the betterment of their children and have a greater tolerance for living with and spending heaps of time with their relatives is conventional wisdom. Are those the only features that make Hispanic culture distinct? Can't those attributes be shared or even surpassed by other cultures? If so, then the Irish men and women I have met are decidedly Latino-like.

I read a study a few days ago about the proportion of "negative" and "positive" health ads in women's magazines targeting the general market, African American readers and Latinas. The authors toted up the number of white and black faces in the ads. They tried to do the same with the Hispanic faces but couldn't. They gave up on the effort. There were a number of Hispanics among the co-authors but they couldn't say with certainty which models were Latina. This is not negative. It is the inevitable result of the racial and ethnic diversity found among Hispanics. It does however point to the difficulties of identifying what makes us Latino. It ain't race, that's clear.

I think there will come a time in the not-too-distant future when the majority of Hispanics in the US will not speak Spanish. Sociologists refer to the US as a language graveyard. Many Hispanic marketers are convinced that Spanish will prove the exception to this rule. I hope so, but I just don't see it.

How will we define ourselves as a group without Spanish? Without even sufficient residual kitchen Spanish to follow a telenovela?

No tengo ni puta idea. But I do fully appreciate the irony of writing about all this in English.

Comments

[James]

Luis-

This is really awesome commentary(your last couple of posts). You are really hitting exactly what needs to be communicated.

On another note, I think Chiqui is the victim of the bad side of viral marketing. I don't know her or the book but the news seems to be popping up everywhere. The topic is hot, and unfortunately she seems to be an easy target.

I feel the need to read the book now. :)

Keep up the great work!
James

[Roberto]

Luis,

Very insightful and I agree that Spanish may not survive in the U.S. However, looking at Latin America and migration I think it will survive for a while. One more point, how about food? Cuisine seems to trascend language, isn't? Cuisine is definetely a characteristics for being Hispanic

[mbrlr]

My wife was raised in the US, although born in Mexico and not here till she was four. She has three siblings, all born in the US. While her parents remain predominantly Spanish-speaking, she and her siblings speak English when talking solely to each other. I wish our culture in the US (I'm about as anglo as you can get, btw) were friendlier to other languages, but that hostility is one of the ways that our culture tracks that of the UK and other English-speaking nations very closely and I don't think it will change. Latino immigrants are simply doing what immigrants have always done, be they German or Italian or Japanese or of whatever language or national group, and assimilating and becoming bilingual in the first generation and by the second generation primarily
English-speaking. Most of our immigrants' grandchildren will be resistant to other languages

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