*EDIT* Invites in two languages?

Ana_2985

EDIT:  I have a new question.  What do you think about this idea?
The save the dates we are ordering are the typical DW boarding pass things.  The guests who speak Spanish won't be traveling so a boarding pass seems silly.  Maybe I'll just do some simple DIY save the date cards and print those in Spanish.  That way we won't have to worry about ordering two different copies.  I'm probably over-thinking this again...

I am going to order my save the date cards sometime this week.  English is a second language for about 30-40% of our guests.  All of those guests speak English very well and when FI and I are with them they only speak English, for me.  I can only think of one person (FSIL) who doesn't really speak English. 

So I was just wondering, since they are used to speaking English with us do you think it's okay to print everything in English?  Or would it be more polite to print their STDs and invites in Spanish since that's their primary language?

hetshup

No, I think one is fine. They speak english and it's your primary language. I don't trust translations.

**Mutley**

While I think that English would be fine, I feel like it would go a long way to print them in both languages.

How does your FI feel about it?  

Ana_2985

He has said that he doesn't think anyone will expect the invitations to be in Spanish, but that they would probably appreciate it if they were.

He's also afraid it will be sort of hassle figuring out who should get which language.  The school he went to was an international school, so his friends are from all over the world.  And then some friends are just local non-US citizens.

I guess we could just do English for anyone who lives in the US and Spanish for everyone else.

PaigeMcC

Both would be nice, if you're comfortable with the translation part (you know someone that can hook you up with this) and it's not a stretch I think it would be a nice idea.

KD+BC

I agree with Mutley. If it is possible, I would print theirs in Spanish. Does your FI speak Spanish? If so, translating them should be too hard. I think it would really make them feel welcome and accepted if you did this. Though, if it became too big of an issue, you can definitely just do them all in English.

Ana_2985

Yes, FI speaks Spanish very well.   We can also get copies of invites from his brother's wedding as a reference.

**Mutley**

Since your FI thinks that they will appreciate the gesture, that is the route I suggest.

Ana_2985

Thanks for the input! I guess I was just worried that some people would get them in Spanish and think 'WTF?'.  But I'm worrying over nothing.  They won't think anything.  They'll look at it once and that will be it.

aperitisa

I received an invite that was bilingual.  It was pretty cool.  They were in pockets and one side was English and the other was Greek.  For the Greek speakers they just had that side facing up.  I though it was very cool to get both.

Hazel_B

A friend of mine sent out invites in English and Tamil, it looked really nice. The only complication was that times are different according to Western life and Hindu ceremonies....that made for some complications.

[Deleted User]

I think both languages is a great idea if it's not too much of a hassle. 

loopy82

I like your new idea Ana with the 2 different STD's.

mrsmamsie

My bother's wife's family and friends don't speak a word of English.  My brother wanted to do one invite for everyone and they ended up designing a double sided invite/save the date with English on one side and Turkish on the other side.  It was very elegant and practical.

catemeg

I wouldn't worry about the invitations in 2 languages (even for your FSIL, it's pretty easy to tell days/times in English when you're a Spanish-speaker - plus, it's likely she'll know the details already!), but definitely do the program in both languages.

musikbx

I don't know your situation well enough to offer sound advice, but in the end I guess it depends (to me) on their fluency level.

I will be doing this out of necessity as boyfriend's family doesn't speak a word of English. It might not be necessary to print in two languages if the concerned parties are proficient in English. I guess you need to consider their fluency, and then decide if it's really worth the extra effort & printing costs. Although I agree that as a cultural gesture, it is a cute idea.

Ana_2985

Thanks for the tips and suggestions everyone!  I'm going to talk about it with FI one more time before we make a decision.

leia1979

It sounds like you can go either way and you won't be excluding anyone. However, if it's not too much extra work, I think a bilingual invitation would be nice. Once upon a time, I used to do custom invitation orders, and I think a bilingual invitation can work well.

ramora13

As long as the grammar and spelling are correct in both languages I would do both but I don't think you need separate invites, just make them bilingual. But if they all (mostly) speak English then you don't have to have Spanish but it would be nice.