Spotlight on Spanish Topic – Shaping a Spanish that Crosses Borders

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Virtual Conference, November 12-13, 2024
12:20 – 12:50 PM – NOVEMBER 6

Shaping a Spanish that Crosses Borders

At Google, we balance the tension between two facts about Spanish. First, that our language is polycentric and shared by all its speakers, where no single of its geographic variations can be equated with the language itself (a pitfall not completely unknown to our industry). The second, that as Spanish speakers we understand each other without communication barriers. For many years now, Google has recognized the richness of the Spanish language by not having a single predominantly Spain-targeted operation. Through “LatAm Spanish” we are able to address the more than 460 million Spanish speakers across the Americas, including in the United States. While performing this exercise we consider all 19 national variations in equal terms, guiding our linguistic choices as impartially as possible and based on the distribution of the syntax and vocabulary. Paradoxically, the only way to shape a unitary International Spanish that fulfills its goals is to fully acknowledge and honor its diversity.