How Do You Say....in Spanish?

Here's a question about translation that comes up in the context of Spanish for the Professions:

What's the best way to know what to call an organization (or a person) in Spanish?

The answer: ask that organization (or person)!

For example, how do you say "Census Bureau" in Spanish?

The answer is always: what does that organization call itself in Spanish?  Don't waste your time translating when someone else has probably already done it for you.

Digging around on the U.S. Census Bureau website will eventually turn up some option in Spanish. But an even faster way to get results is to type the Google search in Spanish: "el censo de los estados unidos."

The U.S. Census Bureau calls itself: La Oficina del Censo de los Estados Unidos


The Latino Community Credit Union headquartered in Durham, N.C. calls itself La Cooperativa Comunitaria


What we used to call the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) is now ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).  The INS calls itself El servicio de inmigración y control de aduanas in Spanish.  But if you snoop around on the Internet, you'll also find out that that organization has always been la migra in Spanish!