Explore this style guide for best practices and standards that are helpful in providing culturally sensitive and functional translations to the Spanish-speaking Head Start community. Note that this English resource reflects Spanish style standards for reference. 

Refer to the style guide and the Head Start Bilingual Glossary when translating materials into Spanish.

• Plain Language and Style
• Prior to Translating
• Spelling, Grammar, and Text Formatting
• Helpful Resources

Plain Language and Style

Plain language is communication that an audience can understand the first time they read or hear it. Translators must follow the federal plain language guidelines and equivalent guidelines in Spanish (Lenguaje claro). The Head Start audience who reads and speaks in Spanish is diverse. It is composed of both providers and families from different backgrounds and cultures. This may be a challenge for translators and linguists. However, OHS has created specific language resources to use when writing in or translating into Spanish.

Tone

Content provided in Spanish through the ECLKC must be:

• informative and educational;
• written in a friendly and inviting tone; clear for all Spanish-speaking readers;
• authoritative and reliable.

Voice

Head Start programs provide information and services for a diverse Spanish-speaking population. We strive to build relationships with the communities we serve through various digital platforms.

• For content in Spanish published on the ECLKC and HSICC communications, use the formal personal pronoun “usted”
• Only for social media in Spanish, use the informal personal pronoun “tú”

Prior to Translating

Use these tips prior to translating. They help you start your Spanish translations with the proper format used in online information and resources.

Titles and References

Before translating a title (articles, books, resources, title pages, etc.) that reference ECLKC or external titles, make sure it hasn’t already been translated.

• For hyperlinked and non-hyperlinked ECLKC pages or titles, check whether a title has been previously translated using the ECLKC Search bar, and then going to the Spanish version of the page to look for the title. If the title has already been translated and such translation is correct, use the ECLKC existing translation.
• For hyperlinked and non-hyperlinked external pages or titles, do a quick search on Google to look for an official translation and use that title in Spanish.
• For both cases, in a paragraph or reference section, when the title is hyperlinked and it hasn’t been translated yet, translate the title and then add the “(en inglés)” notation to let the reader know that the content is only available in English. There is no need to keep the original title in English because it is linked to a source where the reader can find it.
• For both cases, in a paragraph or reference section, when a title is not hyperlinked and it hasn’t been translated yet, keep the original title, add the “(en inglés)” notation to let the reader know that the content is only available in English, and then translate it in brackets.

Hyperlinking

• When a hyperlinked text takes the reader to an English page, add the notation “(en inglés)” as part of the hyperlinked title or URL.

Example: Recursos para abordar el uso indebido de sustancias durante el embarazo (en inglés).

Spelling, Grammar, and Text Formatting

Accents marks

• Use accent marks on capital letters when required.

Example: Área de juego.

Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Initialisms

• When writing acronyms and initialisms in English for the first time in a webpage or document, spell out the whole term, then add the acronym or initialism followed by the “(sigla en inglés)” notation.

Example: La Oficina de Head Start (OHS, sigla en inglés).

• Don’t use the “(sigla en inglés)” notation in titles. Use it when the term appears for the first time in the body of the article or page.
• Acronyms and initialisms in plural form don’t include an “s” at the end nor an apostrophe.
• In upcoming appearances on the same resource, just use the abbreviation.

Example: Los niños que son DLL se comunican usando palabras de uno o más idiomas.

• Acronyms that are proper names and have more than four letters are written with only the first letter capitalized

Example: Unesco

• Abbreviate “for example” in Spanish (p. ej.,) when it has been abbreviated in English (e.g.,).

Example: P. ej., las familias pueden esperar fuera del aula.

• Add a period after abbreviations.

Example: Dra. or pág.

Apostrophes (’)

• Do not use apostrophe in numbers (’99) when translating into Spanish; instead, expand the figure as appropriate.

Example: Esta es la promoción de año 1999.

Bulleted and Numbered Lists

• In lists consisting of only one word, don’t capitalize the first word and use a comma or semicolon at the end of the word.
• In lists consisting of phrases, don’t capitalize the first word and use a comma or semicolon at the end of the phrase.
• If you use a comma or semicolon in lists consisting of only one word or phrase, use a period in the last item on the list.
• In lists with complete sentences, capitalize the first word and use a period at the end of each sentence.
• In lists consisting of titles, subtitles or hyperlinks, don't use periods.

Capitalization

• Capitalize:
  • acronyms (if they are proper names and have more than four letters only the first letter is capitalized).
  • only the first word of a title or subtitle, unless the name is officially written using capitalization in all words in a trustworthy reference.
  • only the first word of a slogan or campaign (e.g. campaña Cimientos seguros, futuros saludables).
  • any kind of subject matter (e.g., Derecho, Matemáticas, Psicología),
  • names of institutions, organizations and internal divisions (except for articles, prepositions, and conjunctions that are part of the name). For example: Institutos Nacionales de la Salud,
  • official names of holidays (except for articles, prepositions, and conjunctions that are part of the name). For example: Día de la Independencia, or Mes Nacional de la Herencia Hispana.
• Don’t capitalize:
  • days of the week and months,
  • cardinal points,
  • languages, nationalities, ethnicities, and religions,
  • titles, positions, and professions (e.g., especialista en la primera infancia, director),
  • first word after a colon, unless it is a quote or part of a subheading in a heading (e.g., Los diferentes colores que usarán son: blanco, amarillo, verde, gris y azul),or it is a word that necessarily needs to be capitalized (proper nouns, acronyms, etc.),
  • Words in parentheses, unless it is a word that necessarily needs to be capitalized (proper nouns, acronyms, etc.).
  • Words such as web, internet, federal, calle, avenida, zona, barrio.

Commas

• The serial comma is not used in Spanish.
• Use a comma before “y” or “o” only when there is a sentence that numbers elements separated by a semi colon, or when a complex sentence with more than one subject is introduced.

Example: los visitadores del hogar; el personal de Head Start; las familias y los niños; el personal médico, y miembros de la comunidad.

Example: En la mañana los niños estuvieron tranquilos, alegres y ordenados, y después del almuerzo estuvieron muy inquietos.

Date and Time

• Add a comma between the day and the date.
• Leave a space between “p.” and “m.” or “a.” and “m.” when using these abbreviations. Add the time zone using this format: (hora del este).

Example: La reunión se llevará a cabo el martes, 25 de diciembre de 2019 a las 9 p. m. (hora del este) en el salón general.

Em Dash (—)

• Type the em dash right next to the initial and last word of the clause.

Example: Para todos los maestros —los que se encontraban en la reunión— era esencial dialogar sobre ese tema.

Italics

• Use italics when referring to text in another language within a Spanish narrative

Example: Los muffins para el desayuno de los niños eran saludables.

• When using intentionally misspelled words.

Example: Mis hijos van pa'l parque todas las tardes.

• Books and newspapers titles; literary, scientific, and artistic works; and titles of websites within a text (not in a biography).

Numbers

• Use figures for all numbers above nine. Spell out all numbers under 10.
• Use numeric figures for all ages, dimensions, fractions, miles, sums of money, percentages, and times of day.
• For numeric intervals, use a preposition instead of a dash (e.g. páginas 94 a 98 or páginas 94 y 95).
• Avoid starting a sentence with a number; spell it out instead or reword the sentence if possible.
• For money, use the English punctuation (comma for the thousands separator and point for the decimal separator), because the Head Start audience is comprised of Spanish speakers in the U.S. and U.S. territories.
  Example: $1,276.59
• For figures in billions and over, use the Spanish form as follows:

For abbreviated ordinal numbers, use (º, ª, er, os, as) following this order: number, period, and superscript letter.
1.º/.er, 2.º/.ª, 3.er, 4.ª, 21.er, etc. 
La 2.ª edición se publicará muy pronto.

• Avoid using fractional numbers as ordinal numbers.

Example: Use “decimosegundo” en vez de “doceavo”.

Percentages (%)

• If the English text uses the word “percent” spelled out, use it in Spanish as well (por ciento).
• If the English text uses the symbol (%), use it in Spanish as well, and leave a space
  between the number and the symbol.

Example: El 32 % del personal no asistió a la conferencia.

Prefixes

• Prefixes are written right next to the main word without a hyphen, except when that word is capitalized, it is an acronym, or a number.

Example: expresidente, sociocultural, anti-Brexit, pro-LGBTQIA2S+

• Prefixes are written separately when used in a multi-word unit

Example: ex vice presidente

Punctuation

• Punctuation marks are written outside of quotation marks, parentheses, brackets, and dashes.
• Exclamation points and question marks are used at the beginning (opening) and end (closing) of sentences: ¿? ¡ !
• Don’t use a period on table of contents, image captions, or diagram captions.
• Don’t use a colon between a preposition and a link, hyperlink, or URL.

Example: Suscríbase en https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/es

Quotes

• When introducing a quotation, use a colon and quotation marks, and capitalize the first letter.

Example: El estudio señala: “Los niños pueden comunicarse con los adultos desde que nacen”.

Always add a period after a quote that ends in an exclamation or question mark.

Example: “¡Es una estrategia excelente!”.

Symbols

• When using a symbol, such as the abbreviation of measurement units (kg, oz) don't use plural forms or add periods.

The expression “and/or” is incorrect in both Spanish and English.

• If an exception is made in English, “and/or” should be translated as “o” in Spanish because the conjunction “o” has both values.

Helpful Resources

Review some helpful resources that will help you deliver clear, reader-focused, and high-quality translations, Spanish captioning, and interpretation services.

Grammar Rules and Linguistic Questions Resources

• Diccionario panhispánico de dudas
• Fundéu
• Real Academia Española (RAE)
• Wikilengua

Translation and Plain Language Guidance

• Designing for Translation
• Plain Language Summit 2018: Translation Considerations (pp. 154–174)
• Documentos – Red de Lenguaje Claro (lenguajeclarochile.cl)
• Your Spanish Content Strategy Is Much More Than Just Translation

Additional Federal Resources

• Bilingual Glossaries, Dictionaries, and Style Guides
• Child Welfare Terms, English to Spanish
• Grant Terminology
• Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Interpretation and Translation Resources
• Official Directory of Government Departments and Agencies in Spanish

Frequently Mistranslated English Terms

Last Updated: July 17, 2024