January 2004 January 2, 2004 Consumer credit counseling for Hispanics; appropriate gestures; effectiveness of yes/no questions; translation of advertising News You may wish to help your Hispanic employees get credit counseling by referring them to Consumer Credit Counseling Service.  The counseling is completely free.  There is a Spanish-speaking counselor at any time.  Their website is www.cccsenespanol.org. Tips Gestures cannot be relied upon to communicate in the workplace.  For example, the hand gesture or sign for OK is obscene in Southern Latin America and this interpretation of the gesture seems to have spread as far north as Mexico. Notes The October Communication Matters had a True-False quiz.  The second statement was: “It is a good idea to ask just ‘yes/no’ questions in the workplace.”  That statement is false.  In general, Spanish-speakers will not ‘yes’ to confirm that they hear you and to make you happy whether or not they understand or agree. Help If your company is trying to reach the Hispanic market, be careful of the creation and translation of your advertising.  What seems humorous or clever in the U.S. cultural context may not be at all clever or funny to someone whose culture is quite different.  Humor is tricky and culture-based.  An example of a bad translation of an ad is the one for milk that said in English, “Got milk?”  That phrase was translated to “¿Tienes leche?” which means “Do you have milk?” in Spanish but implies, “Are you lactating?”  Unintentionally funny and ineffective!

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