Speaking in Tongues: The Beautiful Tension of Multilingual Branding in Spirits
Why translation is never just about words, especially when your product is built on culture, language, and intention.
What Translation Can’t Fix
Language is a bridge. It is also a filter, a mirror, and—at times—a wedge. In branding, language becomes a tool. One that either draws people in or pushes them out.
Within the spirits industry, words do a lot of heavy lifting. Labels, slogans, backstories, and brand names all pass through the sieve of translation. What comes through on the other side says a great deal about how a brand sees its audience, its product, and its identity.
So what happens when a brand resists flattening itself into one language, one identity, or one cultural box?
The answer is layered, imperfect, and necessary.
Lost in Translation, Found in Culture
Translation is not neutral. It is interpretive. It is selective. It is cultural labor.
Linguists refer to "untranslatability" as the gap between words that carry emotional or cultural resonance and the language systems into which they are translated. Concepts like the Japanese term wabi-sabi or the Nahuatl word milpa encompass more than just definitions; they embody ways of seeing.
A phrase like hecho en México doesn't simply mean made in Mexico. One informs, the other evokes. The former is literal. The latter carries with it lineage, pride, and a sense of place.
Multilingual branding, especially in the context of tequila, is not just about dual-language fluency. It is about how tone, cadence, and cultural subtext either build intimacy or create distance. Language reveals hierarchy. It also reveals intent.
Naming the Both/And
Dos Caras does not ask for a translation. It offers an idea.
It was never meant to imply duplicity, despite popular pop culture references. Instead, it reflects duality, the reality of being more than one thing at a time. It speaks to the friction between tradition and evolution, reverence and irreverence, specificity and universality.
In an industry where labels often lean into fixed identities, such as authentic, handcrafted, and luxury, our intention was different. We wanted to honor fluidity. We wanted to hold space for both clarity and contradiction. The name is not a performance of identity. It is a reflection of how identity functions when it cannot be easily translated or understood.
Cultural Legibility vs. Cultural Substance
Many bilingual brands oversimplify language in the service of scale. They prioritize clarity for outsiders rather than complexity for insiders. The result often feels diluted.
This is not to say accessibility is a problem. Accessibility is important. What matters more is the integrity behind the language choices. Too often, brands use Spanish to flavor packaging while failing to honor the people or places behind the product.
A tequila brand doesn’t become meaningful by default just because it uses familia or corazón. It becomes meaningful when those words are chosen with care and backed with action.
Speaking to Those Who Live in Translation
For many, translation is not just a linguistic act. It is an everyday reality.
Bicultural individuals often find themselves navigating languages that do not quite fit. A phrase that feels natural in Spanish may feel clinical in English. Some words never quite find an equal counterpart. For these consumers, branding that captures nuance is not only appreciated, but also recognized.
Dos Caras exists for that audience. Not only Mexican-American. Not only bilingual. We speak to those who hold two truths at once. Those whose stories don’t require a clean translation to be understood.
This is about duality in all forms: cultural, creative, philosophical and beyond. It is about embracing complexity without apology.
Fluency Beyond Language
Luxury brands often lean on linguistic cues to signal sophistication. Whether it’s French in perfumery or Japanese in whisky, language becomes shorthand for exclusivity.
In tequila, Spanish plays a similar role. It connotes origin, craft, and credibility. Yet not every brand that uses Spanish engages with it respectfully or meaningfully.
Fluency, in our view, is not just about grammar or pronunciation. It is about understanding the cultural role language plays. It is about knowing when to explain and when to trust your audience to get it.
Not everything needs translation. Some things are simply meant to be felt.
Why We Choose to Speak in Layers
Dos Caras was never intended to be “the bilingual brand” or the “bicultural icon.” It was created from the understanding that naming is a form of storytelling. That words are cultural currency. That good branding speaks to the mind while honoring the memory.
We chose our name with intention. It holds weight for us not because it explains, but because it invites curiosity.
We are not trying to be decoded. We are trying to be present. For those who have lived in both places. For those who straddle values, languages, ideas, and histories. And for those who simply want to drink something that means something.
In Translation, There Is Always Risk But Also Reward
Something is always lost. That’s the nature of translation. Yet something can always be found, too.
The right word can hold memory. A phrase can open a door. A name can say everything and still leave room for interpretation.
That’s the kind of brand we want to be. One that respects the tension between clarity and complexity. One that trusts the audience to hold both.
¡Salud!
