Why your Spanish radio ad shouldn’t be a translation

Here’s a scene we see a lot. A business has a perfectly good English radio ad. They want to reach Spanish-speaking customers, so they paste the script into a translator, have someone tidy it up, and hire a voice to read it. Technically, it’s correct. And it doesn’t work.

Spanish-speaking listeners can usually tell within a sentence or two that an ad was written in English first. It sounds like a manual. It doesn’t sound like someone talking to them.

What gets lost in translation

Rhythm

Spanish tends to use more syllables to say the same thing. A punchy six-word English line can turn into a mouthful. Keep the same number of ideas and you blow the time limit; cut words mechanically and the line loses its charm.

Humor and idioms

Puns almost never survive translation. Sports references, pop culture and even the way people complain about traffic can be different. The joke needs to be rewritten, not translated.

Formality

Should the ad say tú or usted? It depends on the product, the audience and the region. A dental office might choose the warm respect of usted; a taquería’s Friday special might not.

Who’s listening

“Spanish-speaking” isn’t one audience. Metro Atlanta has large Mexican, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Honduran, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Colombian and Venezuelan communities, and many bilingual households where kids switch languages mid-sentence. The right voice and vocabulary depend on who you’re trying to reach.

Translation gets the words right. Adaptation gets the listener.

What we do instead

• Start from the brief, not the English script. What do you want listeners to feel and do? Then we write toward that in Spanish.
• Use native writers. Our Spanish copy is written or adapted by native speakers who live here, not just people who studied the language.
• Cast for the audience. Neutral U.S. Spanish for broad reach, or a specific regional accent when your customers share one.
• Check the offer. Sometimes the best change isn’t in the words. Mentioning that staff speak Spanish, or that you accept certain payment methods, can matter more than any slogan.

When bilingual beats both

For many families, the most natural ad is one that moves between languages the way they do at home. Done well, code-switching feels warm and real. Done badly, it feels like pandering. We’ll always tell you honestly which approach fits your audience. You can read an example on our sample work page.

Curious what your English spot would sound like adapted for Spanish listeners? Learn about our Spanish voice-over service or send us your script.

Written by the Pura Candela Media studio team in Loganville, Georgia. Questions about this article? Email [email protected].