Photo: BOLD PAC / Courtesy
There are terms and expressions in English that do not have a literal translation into Spanish, especially if you are trying to reach the diversity of the Hispanic or Latino population, as is the case in the United States.
As part of its new strategy to approach this population, BOLD PAC, the electoral branch of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), launches the “BOLD Translate” tool that seeks to offer more accurate translations of some expressions or concepts in English, but mainly to provide key data on the Latino population.
This was explained exclusively by Diana Castañeda, director of Communications for that group, noting that the “Our fight” campaign is reinforced with new tools and a million-dollar investment.
Castañeda indicated that, in the 2022 midterm elections, the “BOLD Mensaje” campaign was launched, a social media tool that accompanied the bilingual “Ya tú sabes” strategy.
The Democrats’ plan to attract more Latino voters is to avoid the “literal translation” of some concepts and expressions in English, to avoid losing the context of the message.
“By communicating with Latino voters must recognize that they are not a monolithic populationnor is its approach to reproductive health and abortion,” the organization said about the official launch of the new platform.
Abortion rights were chosen as the first campaign issue to tie in with the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision on roe v. Wade.
“When talking about reproductive rights, it’s important to keep in mind that Latinas come from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, religious traditions, and countries of origin,” highlights BOLD PAC.
The initiative highlights that Latinas are from populations “disproportionately affected” by the lack of access to health careparticularly on reproductive rights.
“Latinas […] they want politicians to stop dictating what to do with their own bodies,” it says.
This new tool explains the basics, to avoid literal translations.
For example, when it is said that the Supreme Court “overturned” a guide on abortion, the literal translation that is sometimes applied is “throw back” or “overturn”, but it should be “revoke” or “revert”.
In addition to exposing a better applied Spanish translation, the initiative also explains judicial decisions or specific government programsin addition to presenting specific data on the different problems that it will address, such as, in this case, pointing out that more than 58% of Latinas are of pregnancy age and require reproductive health care plans.
The beta version of the platform explained that “unemployment” is not correctly translated as “work stoppage” or “unemployment”, but as “unemployment”, in addition to indicating that in the US the Latino population, as of March of this year, had an unemployment rate of 4.6%.
BOLD PAC will launch this platform on its social networks and on its website leading up to the 2024 elections.