Saturday, February 16, 2008

Lost in Translation?

Barack Obama's greatest strength as a candidate is his ability to emotionally connect with and motivate people from the stump. Does translating his campaign talking points into Spanish for 1st generation Hispanics who speak less English neutralize his strong personal charisma?



In the meantime, the Texas Observer's Melissa Del Bosque reports that Clinton campaign strategists seem to acknowledge a simple fact that many in the English Only/anti-immigration crowd do not:

Rodriguez Ciampoli says the Clinton Campaign will start their radio ads sometime next week. She also hinted that the campaign has something new in store. The campaign will start airing English-language ads for a Hispanic audience. The intent is to reach 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanics in Texas who don’t speak Spanish.
Studies indicate that Hispanics willingly shed native Spanish quickly after the 1st generation of speakers, so that by the 3rd generation none are fluent in Spanish.

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