Nataly Kelly interviews Sergio Moreno-Denton, Hallmark’s Editorial Director for Spanish-language greeting cards.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, it may interest you to know that in many parts of Latin America, the holiday is not only for lovers. The day is actually known as the "Día del Amor y la Amistad" -- the Day of Love and Friendship.

If you reside in the United States, there’s a good chance you may know a Latino person or have one as a neighbor, given Census Bureau estimates that there are more than 50 million Hispanics now living in the U.S.

According to Nataly Kelly, co-author of Found in Translation and a language translation authority we’ve reported on before in this blog, the growing U.S. Latino population has resulted in an increased demand for Spanish-language greeting cards. That’s why she decided to explore Hallmark’s unique process for developing those cards in an interview with Sergio Moreno-Denton.

She asked Moreno-Denton to explain what he does and how it relates to language translation.

“I'm the editorial director for a small -- but mighty -- team of word people and artists creating a Spanish-language line of cards called Hallmark Sinceramente. My art director leads the design side of things, and I focus on the writing.

My editor and I work closely with writers, requesting and applying new writing to our greeting cards. But we also spend a fair share of our time transcreating.

We have a very talented pool of writers and a vast collection of writing, so as editors, we often tap into those resources and rewrite English pieces into Spanish. This is how our work relates to translation, although we rarely use that term. We prefer ‘transcreation,’ as it allows for the creativity and poetic license our needs demand,” he replied.

The entire interview with Sergio Moreno-Denton, along with a slideshow of some of the cards created by his team, is available on the Huffington Post website.

By Alex Dupont
Marketing Communications Specialist
Language Translation Inc.

See Also

• Translation is the act of rewriting a document, changing it into another language.
  The work of language translators affects the quality of services and products such as greeting cards.
• Profiles in Translation: Speaking the Language of Love
  In response to the demand for cards for Latinos, Hallmark has offered a line of cards in Spanish for several years.