Acculturation, huh, what is it good for …

… absolutely everything!

I read a nice article from Kathleen Megan in the October 11 Hartford Courant about Latino families striking a balance between tradition and culture. The article profiles a few families trying to maintain their roots while raising children in an Anglo society. The article also mentions a new book by Carmen Inoa Vazquez called “Parenting with Pride – Latino Style: How to Help Your Child Cherish Your Cultural Values and Succeed in Today’s World.” A good read I’m sure for those of us who can related to raising little Latinos and Latinas.

The take away for marketers is that acculturation is a critically important consideration. About 22 percent of Hispanics speak only English, and about 9 percent speak only Spanish.

So, for those of you inteligente marketers who love to simply translate your existing English materials to Spanish take note. Ask yourself, how is this approach effectively reaching the other 60 percent of us that are bi-lingual to some degree?