Spanish translation

Frequently asked questions about Spanish translation

Why translate into Spanish?

The Spanish language sphere is vast. Translating from Spanish into other languages, on the other hand, is necessary when importing products from Spanish-speaking markets, publishing Spanish-language fiction, or dealing with Spanish-language documents, correspondence, etc. We provide translations into Spanish and from Spanish into other languages. At Transly, all translations into Spanish are always performed by translators who speak Spanish as a native language or who have lived in a Spanish-speaking environment and speak Spanish at a C2 level. We always do our best to ensure that you are satisfied with our work.

What role does the Spanish language play in the world?

Spanish is a very widely spoken language. In fact, it is the second most widely spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese. It is one of the official languages of the United Nations as well as the European Union and one of the primary languages of many South American nations’ organisations. Spanish is spoken by 570 million people, 470 million of whom speak it as a native language. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries (listed by population): Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Panama, Uruguay and Equatorial Guinea. It is also worth noting that in the United States, Spanish is spoken by as many as 52 million people – that is 23% of the total population of the US. Since the large number of Spanish speakers is distributed over many countries across the world, the Spanish-speaking market is primarily promising for e-commerce and location independent business sectors.

What should one consider when ordering a Spanish translation?

Spanish translations are not expensive and turnaround times are ordinary. As a rule, the translators and editors of Transly Translation Agency are native speakers of Spanish, professionally trained, and proficient in the source language. We offer translations of specialised texts, websites, fiction, IT texts and marketing texts. We also offer other services related to translation, such as translation optimisation for search engines.

What are the most common requests for Spanish translations?

We would like to have our website translated into Spanish. We need to have this patient information leaflet translated from Spanish into English. We would like to translate this Spanish-language audio file. Can you translate our product information from English into Spanish and import the translations into our website? And how much would it cost to have one page translated from Spanish? These are the most common enquiries our translation agency receives.

Upon receipt of your enquiry, we aim to respond within an hour or two and always do our best to meet our customers’ wishes as well as to offer them a fast and competitively priced quality translation service. Our experienced translators and friendly project managers work hard to continually ensure that our customers are satisfied with the translations they have ordered from us.

What makes the Spanish language interesting?

In Spain, Spanish is spoken by nearly 90% of the population. Other languages spoken in Spain include Catalan, Galician and Basque. The Spanish language has given rise to several Creole languages, which are grammatically simple languages developed from a mixture of two or more languages. These Creole languages ​​are spoken in the Philippines (the Chavacano language), the ABC islands, ie Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (the Papiamento language), and Israel (the Ladino language or Judeo-Spanish). The Spanish language has been strongly influenced by Arabic as, in 711, the Arabs conquered the Iberian peninsula, introducing their art, architecture and language to the region. Spanish words derived from Arabic include, for example, ‘la alfombra’ (carpet), ‘la almendra’ (almond) and ‘la almohada’ (pillow). Spanish is a detailed, poetic and expressive language. As a result, Spanish translations are generally longer than the source text. For example, the phrase ‘en el sentido de las agujas del reloj’ simply means ‘clockwise’ in English.

Why consider entering the Spanish-speaking market?

The flagships of the Spanish-speaking economies are Mexico and Argentina, whose economy has grown steadily in recent years and which stand out through their relatively high purchasing power. Economic forecasts for Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, meanwhile, are more sombre. Although the GDP of Colombia is the highest of the Spanish-speaking countries, the country’s economic growth hovers around a few percent, while inflation is nearly 5%. Colombian, Peruvian and Venezuelan societies are still characterised by marked inequality as well as high unemployment and national debt. The political situation in Venezuela is currently unstable. Thus, it is better to focus on Spanish-speaking target markets such as Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Chile, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Panama and the Spanish-speaking population of the US. Due to immigration, the number of Spanish speakers living in the United States is expected to rise to 100 million by 2050. Since the Spanish language sphere is so vast, it is absolutely worth considering bringing your products or services to the Spanish-speaking market, because the total purchasing power of Spanish-speaking countries is 2.6 trillion dollars.

What should one consider when entering the Spanish market?

Spain, with its 46 million inhabitants, is a major market in Western Europe. Spain observes Central European Time (except in the Canary Islands), uses the euro as the local currency, and the purchasing power of the Spanish people remains slightly above the European average, making it a convenient and valuable market, especially for businesses based in other EU countries. When forming partnerships with Spaniards, however, there are some important things to keep in mind.

• Many Spanish businesses and companies are closed between 13:00 and 16:00, during which time people go home to eat and have a siesta.
• When going to a business meeting, be precise, but keep in mind that Spaniards are at least 15 minutes late. The same applies to the start time of various events.
• The Spanish have a direct gaze and a firm handshake and embracing or patting one another on the shoulder is perfectly normal among businessmen.
• The personal space of Spaniards is smaller than that of many other Europeans. It is common for Spaniards to stand very close to you when speaking, while patting you, for example, on the arm.
• In Spain, women are expected to be confident, although clothing should remain reserved, in order to be equal partners to the men, who outnumber them in the world of business.
• Spanish management culture is rather authoritarian. Decisions are made by the boss – el jefe or el patron –, while employees obediently execute commands.

What is a no-go in the Spanish-speaking cultural sphere?

The Spanish-speaking cultural sphere has many peculiarities and, as a result, there are certain gestures, subjects and words you should avoid when doing business with the Spanish.

• The OK hand gesture (forming a circle with the index finger and thumb), which is perfectly acceptable in the English-speaking world, is inappropriate in Spain (as well as France).
• Beckoning to someone by curving up your index finger is rude – instead, you should use your whole hand.
• During job interviews, avoid focusing too much on your professional achievements and work experience, as this is not considered paramount.

In the Spanish cultural sphere, the best tool for achieving success is your personality – therefore, take care to make a good impression on your business partner.

Read more

TRANSLY TRANSLATION AGENCY, TRANSLATION, EDITING, CONTENT CREATION, FULL-SERVICE TRANSLATION, ABOUT US, TRANSLATION SERVICES