Ok, so, what is language? As this is a deeply esoteric question, one that far more skilled folks can and have given us insight into (some pasted below for your consumption), I will skip the science. (you’re welcome)
A few great talks on language:
Instead, I’ll focus on my experience on the subject, and then make the narcissistic leap of logic that this experience is shared by everyone, or at least, multilinguals.
My first language was Spanish, a confluence of the Ecuadorian and Colombian flavors, which is in itself a bit of a challenge. Culturally there are substantive differences between these, and for a little girl the struggle to understand why the paternal grandmother should be addressed in the formal “usted” and the maternal should always be addressed in the more casual “tu,” was an exercise in linguistic agility. The first of many to come.
MY EXPERIENCE
My second language was English, a language that will forever be associated with school, work and a sense of “otherness” that I have become fluent in, but remain distinctly apart from.
What this means practically, is that when I stub my toe or get cut-off by someone in traffic, the colorful words that come to me are most often, Spanish ones. The same is true for those moments in life when I am communicating deep pain or sorrow, or confessing my fears or doubts. Spanish, for me, is the language of soulfulness and primitivity. It’s the emotional language that I learned, in those early years of life when being emotional was allowed. It’s the linguistic fetal position that brings comfort and sanity when everything else fails.
English is the language of structure and learning, and in my adult life, the language of business. Ask me to tell you my assessment of the viability of a business plan or the results of my latest P&L analysis…in Spanish…and prepare to see a lot of hemming and hawing. My career has developed entirely outside my country of origin, and while I can quote you Neruda and tell you about the beautiful movie I experienced last week, entirely in fluent Spanish; my business vocabulary exists entirely in English. You could argue of course that this is purely about experience, a year working in Latin America would give me a crash course in the latest and greatest Spanish business-speak, right? While I know this to be true, the reality is, learning and experiencing are two vastly different things.
I can learn business-speak in Spanish, but my experience was built in English. My creativity and confidence in the domain of business was built on a foundation of English language ideas, on uniquely US-based values and logic.
Likewise, because I live in the US now, I can (and have) learned the language of emotions and relationships in English. But my first exposure to that world, my experience of all things emotional, came from a world where only Spanish was allowed.
WHERE LANGUAGE LIVES
So the languages we speak become worlds unto themselves; worlds with associations based on our experiences. Whichever world those experiences developed first, in earnest, is where they will forever live and feel at home. What this means is that we can visit and be skillful in those other worlds (linguistic agility), just like I can and regularly do visit the world of emotions in English, but the natural and comfortable home for my emotions will always be in the world of Spanish.
What does this say about telling your story to multilinguals? What does it say about branding and marketing to hispanics in the US (or for that matter any other cultural group)?
In my view it fuels the argument of many analysts before me, who have already touted the importance of learning the specific nuances of every group you’re trying to speak to. Puerto Ricans in New York are a different audience than Mexicans in Los Angeles or Cubans in Miami. Within those groups you can probably find even more distinct groups (by age, income, education), each with a story and unique experience.
Ok that’s fair, and painfully obvious, especially when you think about what a failure in this arena can cost. As recently as the 2005 US presidential election, control of the white house was the price paid by the party that failed to employ this strategy in their marketing efforts.
LINGUISTIC AGILITY
The other dimension that is critical here is the one of linguistic agility, and being cognizant of what world people’s various experiences live in. Are you targeting a population that is 3rd generation and barely conversant in the language of their ancestors? Or are you targeting folks who, like me, might have certain aspects of their lives (emotions, family, health) firmly rooted in their non-English language world, despite their English fluency?
This goes beyond just knowing your audience. This is about knowing what story you are trying to tell and which world that story belongs in. In Hispanic families, health is a family affair, and even if your target audience is a 2nd generation, fully fluent English speaker, if you want her to consider your alternative treatment for her newly diagnosed breast cancer, you’d be well served to tell her your story in both the language she’s been educated in (English) and the language that she’ll be talking to her family in (Spanish).
Bottom line, language is inextricably tied to culture and emotions. What emotions are most closely tied to your product or campaign? Are you speaking to your audience in the language of that emotion? Or are you asking your customers to communicate with you in a language that distances you from their world?
