Thinking about hiring a Spanish Speaking Voice Over Talent?
Are you thinking about hiring a professional Spanish voiceover talent for your next campaign? Over the course of five hundred years, the population of Spanish speakers in the United States has steadily grown.
Speaking Spanish has become a professional asset not just in industries like business but voiceover too! There are almost 500 million Spanish speakers in the world which makes it the second most spoken language in the world (after Mandarin Chinese).
Like English, the Spanish speaking world covers a wide range of regional accents and dialects. The bilingual voiceover talent you hire might depend on where your audience lives and which Latino community they identify with. Are they Puerto Ricans or Colombians in New York City, Mexicans in Los Angeles, or Cubans in Miami? All these different groups speak Spanish a little differently meaning their accents and vernacular can be as distinct from the other as English speakers from New York City, London England, or Sydney Australia. You want to hire a Spanish-speaking voiceover talent who relates to your audience in a voice they recognize. Our bilingual Spanish-speaking talent are as varied as Latin culture itself. Some of our talent can also accommodate a standard or neutral Spanish if requested.
Español Grows in the United States
As our neighbor, Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers in the world – nearly 130 million – and between immigration and trade español keeps growing in the United States. We have the 4th largest population of native Spanish speakers according to a report from Instituto Cervantes. The Wilson Center assessed that “the US has 40 times the number of Spanish speakers of any other country where Spanish is not an official language”. Instituto Cervantes’ report also estimates that by 2060, the US will have a population of 26.5% of hispanic origin. But it won’t stop there…they predict the US will then become the world’s second largest Spanish speaking country!
¿Hablas Spanglish?
With all of this growth, inevitably English and Spanish would converge and become the norm in many communities around the country. Spanglish is a fun mix of Spanish and English used interchangeably when speaking. Its wide-spread use has achieved dictionary status in both the Royal Academy of Spanish and the Oxford English Dictionary, híjole! According to Pew Research Center, bilingual Latinos use Spanglish more often than their English or even Spanish dominant speakers. Spanglish is used more with second generation Latinos than third or higher generations.
Latino Purchasing Power
As the fastest growing population in the US, Latinos have economic power. Only in the past few years has their purchasing power been truly understood and harnessed by US industries. According to a 2023 report by L’ATTITUDE, an annual business event that focuses on Latino leadership across industries, Latino purchasing power was measured at $3.4 trillion.
In 2023, the US Latino population spent $2 billion according to a report by Instituto Cervantes. The same report states that Spanish is the second most used language on digital platforms like Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and Netflix.
Identifying as Latino in the United States
According to the Pew Center, the majority of Spanish speakers think it’s important that future Latino generations speak Spanish while those who are more English dominant think it’s less important. How well they speak changes across generations – 75% of US born Latinos saying they speak very well down to 14% by the third or fourth generation. Whether or not one speaks Spanish and if it makes one more Latino or not is a debated topic within the community.
As languages mix, more and more Latinos identify as multiracial. In 2022, nearly 25 million identified as such up from 3 million in 2010. Some of this, according to the Pew Research Center, can be attributed to the changes in race descriptions for the US census in addition to increased racial diversity.
If you’re thinking about hiring a professional Spanish speaking voiceover talent Blue Wave has you covered! Our professional and award-winning voiceover talent genuinely reflect the diversity of Latino culture. Whether you need a bilingual voice actor or someone who identifies as Hispanic or Latino/Latina but speaks English, our voiceover actors have the talent, and authentic lived experiences, to tell your story.