Workforce Language Services

Click here to watch WLS’s founder and president Jill Bishop eloquently explain our language and cultural training services at the Midwest Security & Police Conference/Expo. (Once you’re on the page, click on the video icon.)

Some talking points:

Hispanics make up around 15% of the U.S. population, and that number will triple by 2050. Is your organization prepared for the linguistic and cultural challenges?

In our “Spanish for Law Enforcement” trainings, WLS doesn’t focus on that grammar you learned back in 9th grade and have forgotten since. You’ll learn industry-specific terminology that you can use instantly on the job. We’ll help you anticipate challenges and find the appropriate solutions.

WLS offers onsite, customized trainings and workshops to help employers (from police departements to restaurants) prepare their employees for any linguistic or cultural situation that may come up in their industry.

As Jill says, “It’s all about the expressions you need to do your job better.”

Since 1880, the Social Security Administration has been tracking popularity of baby names. And even though the Hispanic population in the US is on the rise (by 2025, 30% of all American children will have some Latino ancestry), Spanish names are down in the US. Time Magazine reports.

First, Time looks at some findings from a recent Pew Hispanic Center study:

As recently as 1980, just 9% of U.S. kids under 18 were Hispanic, compared with 22% today. Only about a tenth of that population are first-generation Latin Americans — meaning they were born outside the U.S. More than half (52%) are second generation — born in the U.S. to at least one foreign-born parent; and 37% were born in America to American-born parents.

What happens, of course, when an immigrant group heads toward assimilation, is that each successive generation gets more educated and more proficient in the national language. Another thing that happens is that parents start moving away from baby names like Guillermo and closer to names like William.

“When [immigrant or later-generation] parents name their children, they are combining their own attachments and affinities with their hopes and aspirations for their children,” says Guillermina Jasso, a sociology professor at New York University and a second-generation Hispanic American.

In the past decade, “Juan” has dropped in popularity from the 48th spot to 66th. “Guillermo” slid from 369th place to 470. Names like “Angelica” and “Manuel” have seen downward drops as well. Many girls’ names seem to survive the crossover better than boys’ — the ‘a’ at the end of the name (Maria,Victoria, Diana) seems to do better than an ‘o’ (Antonio becomes Anthony; Marco becomes Mark).

The Time columnist wraps up his thoughts with this statement: “If the Elisas and Jorges and Angelicas of this era are fated to go the way of the Moeshes and Mitzis of an earlier one, the consolation is that with such nominative extinction comes melting-pot belonging. That’s always been at the heart of the American experiment — and it likely always will be.”

But there will always be two schools of thought: parents who want to honor their heritage with a Spanish name, and those who wish to assimilate to make the “mainstream” more comfortable. As another blogger points out, “if you pick an ‘assimilated’ name to fit in, do you perpetuate the myth that those without assimilated names are ‘out’?”

See other posts about Hispanic names:

• Hotel owner makes Hispanic employees ’shorten’ Spanish names
• What’s in a Hispanic name 

Click here to read the full article in Time.

A hotel owner in Taos, Texas recently asked that all his Hispanic employees “shorten” their names to something a little more “American.” According to an article posted by Asylum, the new boss mandated the following upon his takeover:

1. No speaking Spanish in front of the boss.
2. Everyone’s fired and has to re-apply for their jobs.
3. It’s “strongly suggested” that employees shorten their long, silly Spanish names. (”Who has the time to say ‘Marcos?’ Why not Mark or Bill?” That’s actually a real example.)

Roberto Ruiz of the San Antonio Public Policy Examiner sees this as a strong case against America’s declaration as of late that we live in a “post-racial” society.  He also points out that Hispanics make up the majority population in Taos.

It usually comes as a surprise to people when I mention that our republic does not have an “official language.” Wisely, this nation’s founders decided not to declare an official language, their reasons included “a belief in tolerance for linguistic diversity within the population, the economic and social value of foreign language knowledge and citizenry, and a desire not to restrict the linguistic and cultural freedom of those living in the new country.”

In a previous blog post, “What’s in a Hispanic name,” we’ve looked at the Hispanic naming system and how it is often confused in the United States, resulting in a loss of culture and identity for many Hispanic Americans (click here to go to the post).

Read Ruiz’s full column here.

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), and the Hispanic population in the U.S. is proudly celebrating their heritage. CNN’s series “Latino in America” takes a special look at largest part of this group: Mexican-Americans.

3 of 10 Mexican-Americans were born to parents who were also born in the U.S., meaning that their national heritage is as deeply rooted in the U.S.’s as it is the country of their ancestors. But a continuing wave of immigrating Mexicans means that their identity remains closely linked to current immigration issues and their “Mexicanness,” in both problematic and enjoyable ways.

Ask the later-generation descendants of earlier waves of Mexican immigrants, and they’ll tell you that “Where are you from … no, where are you really from?” are questions that they have to field all too often. And even if it’s clear that they are Mexican-Americans, they still get quizzed about how well they speak Spanish. Assumptions about them being foreign turn from annoying to downright scary when law enforcement personnel suspect them of being illegal immigrants.

On the other hand, Mexican-Americans and Hispanics that have assimilated into the fabric of life in the U.S. have an advantage that many other immigrants don’t—easy access to their roots. Opportunities to celebrate their culture are all around, in the food, language and cultural traditions that persist thanks to ongoing immigration.

In fact, corporations, politicians and retailers are trying to grab a piece of the Hispanic market more than ever these days, and many Hispanics see this as an opportunity for growth.

Read Tomás R. Jiménez’s full article on this issue here at CNN.com.

Hispanic population growth leapt 15% from 2007-2008 in Luzerne County, PA, topping the nation with this milestone. Hispanics now make up about one-third of the small county’s population.

The county is opening its arms to the new diversity, whose growth could be caused by an exodus from more expensive urban areas like New York and New Jersey. In the city, jobs are harder to come by, and so is affordable housing. Linda Trompetter, director of the Luzerne County Diversity Commission and the Diversity Institute at Misericordia University, says she has noticed the changing face of the community and it’s new needs.

“We need a lot more education and working together to deal with the issues that arise because of it,” such as the need for increased English as a Second Language instruction in schools, healthcare services and issues of tolerance.

Trompetter is receiving more and more requests for cultural competency training from local businesses, hospitals and school districts. The trainings teach people how to “interact effectively with any group of people whose culture is different than our own,” and how to respect those differences.

To read more about this issue from the Hazleton Times, click here.

Advertising Age published a great article about the Spanish language in the U.S.—what it has meant in the past, and where it stands today.

Spanish is discussed in four sections: language as  differentiator, language as unifier, language as culture, language as currency. To start, Spanish has played an important role in American culture for many generations, although in the past, there was a strongly repressive attitude against its use. As a result, many children born to Spanish native speakers in the U.S. never learned their parents’ language.

This has resulted in a retro-acculturation trend, wherein the second generation seeks to reclaim their lost linguistic and cultural heritage. And that, in turn, has created birth of a new marketing industry to Hispanics living in the U.S.

Hispanic marketers have a lot to consider. For one, Spanish speakers are regionally very diverse, which can dramatically affect the target audience.

For years one of the biggest challenges for marketers targeting the Hispanic market has been about achieving a delicate balance between relevance and commonality. If we use Puerto Rican slang, will we offend the Domincans, Cubans and Mexicans in the same market? If we are too “current” and popular will we seem to “Naco” for the older and higher income consumers? Famous cases of language slip-ups and lack of sensitivity haunt the halls of most all Hispanic agencies that have been around any significant period of time.

Read more about the language and cultural implications of Hispanic marketing in the U.S. in the full article.

New Bedford, MA believes that their community will succeed when immigrants have more opportunities in the workplace. Local business and civic leaders have launched an initiative called English Works Campaign that helps to eliminate the long waiting lists for English classes.

Anthony R. Sapienza, president of Abboud, a New Bedford manufacturer of men’s clothing, believes proficiency in English helps businesses and opens up more job opportunities to the workers.

Business leaders like Sapienza have seen the effects of workers learning English on the job. Workers can better understand their duties and communicate with management, creating a more productive workforce and local economy.

Sapienza says English skills increase efficiency, reduce errors, and improve employee retention. Immigrants can also feel more integrated into their new communities, and can better help their children who are growing up in English-speaking schools.

Manufacturing emphasizes these days an approach known as “lean manufacturing,” which involves teamwork. This type of collaboration is not possible with “15 different people speaking 15 different languages,” Sapienza said.

Beyond that, there are jobs requiring customer service or computer skills, where it helps to speak English, he said.

Learn more about what New Bedford is doing to improve its community and workplaces here.

Every penny counts in this down economy, and every person does, too—the 2010 U.S. census will determine where money is allocated (from a pot of $400 billion in federal aid) based on community population counts. Undocumented immigrants and other hard-to-reach populations in the Chicago area and elsewhere have become the target of some creative census awareness outreach measures.

Telemundo, for example, has written in a main character on the Spanish-language soap “Mas sabe el diablo” (”The Devil Knows Best”) who’s a census worker.

Federal authorities have stepped up arrests of illegal immigrants, leading to worries that those residents will remain underground rather than report their presence to a federal census worker. Hence, the soap plot line, in which an unwed mother takes a census job and in the process educates her family — and immigrant viewers — about the government count.

“We’re going wherever the viewers are, even though you’re combining something that’s a little different with the steamy telenovela,” network spokeswoman Michelle Alban said.

Cook County, IL has already seen the hit from undercounting in the 2000 census: a consulting firm estimated that the county will have lost $200 million by the end of this decade. Researchers estimate that the states will lose about $12,000 in federal funds per uncounted person over the next decade.

Local community groups and churches are brainstorming about to reach out to underrepresented groups. At Rogers Park Community Council, members suggested census awareness T-shirts, street murals and multilingual mailers.

“This is not a joke,” Elizabeth Vitell, the council’s executive director, told fellow participants. “This is a chance to do something where we will see results in our communities for years to come.”

Read the full article in the Chicago Tribune here.

Even though ELL (English Language Learners) students make up the fastest growing student population in the U.S., teacher-prep courses are not readying teachers for this reality.

The population has grown astoundingly: between 1996 and 2006, the overall U.S. student population has only increased by 3%, whereas the ELL student population has grown 60%. The students come from diverse language and cultural backgrounds, and are foreign and native born.

A Government Accountability Office study on teacher preparation reports that “English language learners…speak more than 400 languages, with almost 80 percent of these students speaking Spanish… These students also include refugees with little formal schooling and students who are literate in their native languages, resulting in a range of educational needs.”

Mary Ann Zehr of Education Week points out that most teacher prep courses focus on students with disabilities and provide field experiences with disabled students, while ELL instruction is not regularly provided. She writes:

Interestingly, administrators of teacher-prep programs told the GAO that one of the main reasons they don’t have stiffer requirements for teachers to be trained to work with ELLs is that their state standards don’t require it of them.

The GAO notes that state standards sometimes include limitations on the maximum number of program or credit hours, so I can see how it could be a challenge for teacher-prep programs to add a requirement that everyone take a course devoted to teaching ELLs.

But I wonder if blaming the lack of standards is really just an excuse on the part of the teacher-prep programs for not keeping up with how school demographics are changing in the United States.

Click here to read Zehr’s full opinion.

As we’ve seen in the news so much lately, the Hispanic community contributes to a large and growing portion of the online commerce. Hispanics now make up 11% of the U.S. online market.

This leads to many questions that a Practical eCommerce article addresses in easy-to-understand terms. For example, the first question you might ask is Do I need to market to the Hispanic community? If your business is specific to one area or does not fit the wants and needs of the Hispanic community “(i.e., The All Things Irish Boutique),” the answer is probably no.

But if you belong to the vast majority of U.S. retailers, it’s time to take a look at your marketing strategy from a new perspective.

Next, How do I revise my marketing strategy to involve the Hispanic community?

To make the most of your marketing, try to understand how Hispanic consumers use, think about, and understand your products, brand, and offers. Determine what should be said to address this community and start to say it in the language your site already uses, i.e., English.

Once you’ve got a new marketing foundation for the Hispanic demographic, it’s time to communicate your message in Spanish.

As an example, Best Buy famously reported last year that visitors to its Spanish language pages spent twice as much time on page as visitors to English language pages, presumably because the U.S. Spanish-speaking community was starved for product information.

When it comes to translating your site into Spanish, do not use a machine translation service alone. Instead, invest in a professional translator who can demonstrate fluency in both languages.

Read the full Practical eCommerce article here.

We can help! To find out about WLS’s Hispanic marketing consulting and Spanish website translation, click here.