Translating the language of money for multigenerational Hispanic families

In English this means, it’s not easy to talk about money.

For many people, the language of money is like trying to learn a foreign language. It can be frustrating. There are many books that seek to help you learn the language. For this month’s Color of Money Book Club pick, I’m recommending a book that literally translates the language of money.

Lynn Jimenez, an award-winning business reporter for KGO Radio 810 in San Francisco, has written “Se Habla Dinero?: The Everyday Guide to Financial Success.’’ What’s so fabulous about this book is from the table of contents to the index, Jimenez provides side-by-side Spanish and English translation. On the left-side pages is the Spanish, and on the right, the English.

Although anyone will benefit from this basic personal finance guide, Jimenez wrote this bilingual book to appeal specifically to multigenerational Hispanic families.

Hispanics are moving into this nation’s middle class at a rapid pace, Jimenez writes.

The fastest-growing portion of the Hispanic market is among households earning $50,000 or more a year. Hispanic consumer spending clout will rise from $212 billion in 1990 to a projected $1.4 trillion in 2013, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.

In her book, Jimenez sticks with the fundamentals. She starts with the mechanics of opening and using bank accounts, then moves on to how to save, use credit and get out of credit card trouble, pay for college, borrow to buy a home or start a business, purchase insurance, and set up a will.

Jimenez customizes the book to make her Latino readers feel included. The personal examples she uses have Hispanic surnames. Instead of the generic Jones family, there’s the Vega family, with parents Maria and Jose and son Pedro. There are tips aimed specifically at Latinos. For example, she reminds some that unlike in their native countries, a notario (notary public in the United States) is not an attorney. Law enforcement officials say some schemers call themselves notarios to take advantage of immigrants who are unaware of the distinction.

Jimenez said she envisions the book being passed along from Latino grandparents who don’t speak English to their adult children who may speak some English to adult or young grandchildren, who may not speak or read any Spanish.

As Jimenez says in the introduction: ”El Dinero tiene su propio lenguaje, su propio vocabulario, su propio codigo de palabras. Es fundamental que comprenda el lenguaje del dinero, cualquiera sea el idioma que usted hable. ”

Or, as she advises in English: “You must speak the language of money to understand how to use it to your own advantage.’’

Michelle Singletary is a columnist for The Washington Post. She can be reached at singletarym@washpost.com.