AUSTIN – For decades politicians have known the power and the peril of using an unfamiliar language to spread their message; here in Texas, it usually involves a Spanish accent.
In two new advertisements by each campaign Democrat Bill White and Republican Gov. Rick Perry look straight into the camera, each delivering lines in Spanish.
White narrates one of his 30-second, Spanish spots solo. In another, he relies on the language skills of his daughter, Elena.
Both of Perry’s ads are narrated largely by an unseen Spanish speaker, only punctuated by Perry’s appearance.
At KVUE's request, Olga Pechnenko-Kopp, CEO of McElroy Translation, had three of her professional, native Spanish speaking translators review the ads for both Perry and White.
Translators found the scripts were adequately written and well-delivered for non-Spanish speakers, however, each featured incorrect accent marks or other spelling errors in the on-screen titles.
"Anytime you have a typo it grabs a person's attention away from the most important point, and drives it toward the mistake,” Pechnenko-Kopp said.
Armed with the ads on an iPhone, a KVUE crew asked voters at the State Capitol what they think. While some Texans who did not want to appear on camera said they do not think it is appropriate for either candidate to advertise in any language other than English, other Texans said they hope to see more Spanish language ads flow from both campaigns.
White: Soy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb5imoZj554
White: Padre http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsEBQoJZhVc
Perry: Trust (Spanish) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMWJtPA_FB0
Perry: Working (Spanish) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcUaf7W5JDQ
