Focus on Latin Grammys: If the Latin Grammys is going to be only in Spanish on a Spanish Network (Univisión) why put out Press Releases in English, why bother with an English name? It is Los Grammys Latinos. ¿Entiendes?

This Friday the Latin Grammys will be televised on Univision. For, I think, the first time they will not appear on a English language network. I am not particularly happy about this as I am way into Latin Music but my first language is English. Interestingly enough I found an article today entitled, Study: English Rules Among U.S.-Born Hispanics

Results from a survey of 1,135 acculturated Latinos ages 14-29 revealed that English is indeed the language of choice for generation “1.5″ (those born abroad but who arrived in the United States earlier than five years of age), 2nd generation (born in the U.S. with at least one immigrant parent) and 3rd generation (born in the U.S. and so too the parents).

Even better from the same article:

Long gone is the idea that U.S.-born Latinos are no different than recent immigrants in their language preferences and ways they absorb media, and attendees at the conference were given viewpoints from many leaders in the Hispanic market.

Flavio Morales, vice president of programming for mun2, explained that the young viewership for the music/lifestyle cable network are not taking their media sitting down. "Latino teens are pissed. They say, ‘You only want to sell to my mom.’ "

So the ‘pinnacle’ of the Latin Music industry in the US, the Latin Grammy awards show is saying, we don’t care about the Hispanics and Latinos who don’t speak Spanish or don’t speak it very well. Okay, I can handle that (excuse me I have to go silently weep in a corner for a while), but then why oh why don’t you drop the Press Releases in English. On top of that lets change the official name to ‘ Los Grammy Latinos’ and do away with anything in English.

What really puzzles me is that Latin Music in the form of Reggaeton is boiling on the charts? Wouldn’t you want to take advantage of the momentum that Reggaeton is pumping into the Latin Music industry? I suppose not.

There was a very good article published today in the San Diego Union-Tribune entitled ‘Latin Grammys gets a tuneup‘ and wrtten by Hiram Soto.

• - Los Grammy Latinos will only be on Univision
• - Everything in Spanish
• - No Anglo musical guests (best idea for this year)
• - Two years left on contract with CBS (so is it their fault?)
• - Audience nose diving from 7.5 million in 2000 to 3.1 last year (with various reasons included)
• - Quick recap of the growth of Spanish media in the US
• - About the organization and this year’s nominees
• - bi-lingual conclusions

I feel it is a mistake to have the show only in Spanish and the last three paragraphs on Hiram Soto’s article says it all for me.

The debate over whether to broadcast in English or Spanish promises to be far from over as the Latino population in the U.S. continues to grow and generations continue to be assimilated in this country.

And perhaps no other artist symbolizes that contrast better than JD Natasha, the 17-year-old pop sensation nominated for Best New Artist. Like many in her generation, she speaks Spanish at home, but English with her friends.

"To me, it’s very limited," she said of the change. "I have a lot of friends who don’t speak Spanish and who are not going to understand anything, and before, everybody could watch the awards."

My solution: Subtitles? Anyone heard of them? Let JD and the other artists and hosts speak in either or both languages and translate to the other language. Isn’t that what is happening in the melting pot of the US. That is simple, isn’t it? Or is not hip enough for the hipsters over at Los Grammy Latinos?

Just for a little background. I run three blogs (websites). Two cover latin music news and have more than 9500 posts combined.

1. LatinMusicNews.com covers latin music news in English and
2. Ticias.com covers the same subject but in Spanish.
3. HispanicTips.com covers Hispanic-Latino News.

I will be posting these ‘Focus on Latin Grammys’ on all three sites.

Additionally, I applied for Media Credentials to the Latin Grammys. I wanted to be the first blogger covering the event. Unfortunately, I was denied credentials. Read about it here.

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