Cultural Linguistics

A common generalization

“Hispanic” is a term that has been used frequently in the United States since 2000, when the U.S. Census first began to notice a spike in population and influence from this community. It is important to realize that the term is a general ethnicity, and is not an actual race. In reality, Hispanics themselves are very culturally diverse and originate from many different countries and races.

The term Hispanic encompasses any person identifying themselves as such, and therefore it is not an indefinite label. Generally, people who identify as Hispanic derive from Spanish speaking counties of South and Central America, including surrounding Islands and sometimes Spain.

Understanding diversity

When marketing to this multifarious community it is important to understand that although they grouped together for statistical purposes, Hispanics are indeed very diverse. It is perfectly acceptable, and encouraged, to reach this entire community in your campaign, however realizing the complexity of the population is vital.

Just as understanding your audience is important; understanding the cultures and beliefs within that audience is just as vital. Hispanics are a multitude of different cultures and those diversities are what make them so dynamic as a target market.

A tool for the trade

Geert Hofstede, a cultural researcher and expert, developed a cultural ranking system designed to aid with intercultural business interactions. According to Hofstede, the culture of a country can be divided into four dimensions that dictate the way they conduct business. The four characteristics include Uncertainty Avoidance, which is a society’s tolerance for ambiguity, Masculinity V. Femininity, Power Distance, and Individualism V. Collectivism. In recent years a fifth dimension has been added called Long Term Orientation, but it is not a ranked for each country. The process takes each country and scales the significance of each dimension on a graph. Mexico and Latin America Countries for instance looks like this:

When marketing to Mexico for instance, looking at this graph would help you to realize that they have a low Individualism (IDV) rating and would therefore be primarily collective. The graph on the right shows that Latin American countries as a whole are even more collective. Collectivist cultures value family and community needs over self-serving ones and this information would therefore play a part in the way they are marketed to. Researching not only the culture but the various aspects that are comprised within the culture is vital to any campaign.

 

Cultural dimensions can be found at www.geert-hofstede.com. At this site, you will be able to research the cultural dimensions of various countries as well as read the explanations behind each rating. Looking through these lists will help you understand how the target culture thinks, which is an imperative skill for marketing to a culture different from your own.