Progressive Insurance | Brand Guidelines

If you have any questions regarding the Spanish translation guidelines provided below and/or process, please email spanishrequest@progressive.com. We also recommend that you visit the MLE Center of Excellence for additional resources.  

Who should be using these guidelines?

• Writers who are writing in Spanish
• Writers who are translating English-written documents to Spanish
• Managers who are assigning translation services
• Legal teams
• Creative translators
• Business partners
• Writers who are fluent in Spanish
• Writers who are certified to write in Spanish

A note about tone

In general, the Progressive voice and tone should be the same regardless of the language the copy is written in. However, there are certain nuances that should be taken into consideration when writing about Progressive to a Spanish-speaking audience. To achieve a fluent translation, word-for-word or literal translations should be avoided. If the concepts are translated without an overall understanding of the text, the content will not sound natural.

Dialect

Generally

For national audiences or when the audience is unclear, use Latin American Spanish.

Exception

• Do not use the informal plural, vosotros.

Regionally

Take special note when targeting a specific region of the country and the predominant country of origin of its population.

Exception

• When writing for South Florida, consider using more Caribbean Spanish vocabulary. When writing for Texas, consider using more Mexican Spanish vocabulary.

Non-trademarked product names

Non-trademarked product names, such as "Roadside Assistance," "Trip Interruption," and "Total Loss Replacement" should NOT be translated. For a list of these terms, and others like them, please reference the Spanish Glossary.

Insurance terms

All insurance-related terms, such as "commercial lines" or "auto liability" should be translated. However, when an insurance term does not have a direct translation in Spanish, a descriptive translation should be made of that term as concisely as possible. For example, let's say that "tow truck" did not have a direct translation in Spanish (which it does). You would translate it descriptively as "a truck that pulls another vehicle."

"You"—formal vs. informal

In most cases, the Progressive tone, or public-facing voice, is casual, friendly, and informal. Therefore, the first-person informal "tu" tone of voice should be used in almost all communications across business areas, including:

• CRM copy (except for transactional and policy documents)
• Acquisition copy
• Commercial Lines copy
• Recreational Lines copy
• B2C copy (Agents to Consumer)
• B2B event-specific copy (e.g., New To Blue, Platinum 25, National Sales Conference, etc.)
• All internal communications (except for legal copy)

However, we recommend using the formal "usted" tone of voice for the following business areas and documents:

• B2B copy for Independent Agent to Sales Rep as well as Sales Team to Reps
• Claims copy
• Legal copy
• Disclaimer copy
• Policy document copy
• Transactional copy (e.g., bills, payment reminders, etc.)

Reading level of copy

In general, copy should be written at a U.S. sixth-grade reading level or lower. For example, you might write copy so that it is simple and easy-to-understand with short sentences, simple verb tenses, and more simplified vocabulary.

Exceptions:

• Legal copy may require more advanced terminology to accurately convey legal topics.

Grammar

In most Latin-based languages, punctuation marks—such as periods, commas, colons, question marks, and so on—are used the same as in the English language. Some exceptions are the opening "¿" and "¡" which are used in Spanish. Other than that, please follow general rules regarding the use of punctuation.

Capitalization

Follow these general rules of capitalization:

• Cardinal points (e.g., North, South, East, West, etc.)
• Acronyms
• Names of people and places
• First word of a title
• First word of a sentence
• First word after an em (—) dash and forward slash (/)
• Official names of holidays (except for articles, prepositions, and conjunctions that are part of the name)

Do not capitalize:

• Days of the week and months, unless it is the first word of a sentence
• Languages, nationalities, ethnicities, and religions, unless it is the first word of a sentence
• Words such as "internet", "federal", "calle", "avenida", "zona", "barrio"
• The first word after a colon
• Words in parentheses, unless it's an acronym

Numbers and currency

• Use numeric figures for all numbers above nine. Spell out all numbers under 10.
• Use numeric figures for all dimensions, fractions, miles, percentages, and times of day.
• If the English text uses the word "percent" spelled out, use it in Spanish as well (por ciento).
• Avoid starting a sentence with a number.
• Use the American way of writing currency numbers:
  • Use: $1,276.50
  • Do not use: $1.276,59
• Ordinal numbers—commonly used:
  • Abbreviated: 1ro. or 1º, 2do. or 2º, 3ro. or 3º ...
  • Feminine gender case: 1ra. or 1ª, 2da. or 2ª, 3ra. or 3ª ...

Acronyms

When writing acronyms and initialisms in English for the first time, spell out the whole term, then add the acronym or initialism followed by the "sigla en inglés" notation.

Example:

• Customer Relationship Management, CRM (sigla en inglés).

Hyperlinks

When a link text takes the reader to an English page, include (en inglés), meaning In English, next to the link name.

Example:

• Progressive Name Your Price Tool* (en inglés)