Workforce Language Services

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.

A UCLA study shows that Latino-owned businesses are moving in an upward trajectory: there’s been a 3.43% increase in growth between 1997 and 2002, with $35 billion in sales generated in 2002.

The study points to some strengths and weaknesses of Latino businesses, which occupy the largest percent of minority-owned businesses and therefore make a greater impact on the regional economy.

“Latino firms are in critical sectors of the economy, both traditional sectors that need to remain strong and entering new sectors like the green jobs sectors that are going to grow the regional economy,” said [Dr. J.R. DeShazo, Director of the Lewis Center in the UCLA School of Public Affairs].

One strength: Latino-businesses are more likely to offer a higher return on investment. One weakness: the Latino business sector lacks technical and banking assistance, which are both key to a business’s long-term growth. Latino businesses tend to be underserved by banking institutions and are more vulnerable when making banking decisions.

The study calls for more policy advocacy for Latino businesses.

While Latino political engagement has increased over the last decade, Latinos have not done as much in advocating for its business community, according to DeShazo. The lack of time and resources, as well as the lack of access to business associations in the region may be factors in the current state of Latino business people’s civic engagement, he says. “One of the most important things we can do as an organization is policy advocacy,” DeShazo said.

To read the full article and more about the study’s recommendations, click here.

Skin color, social status and accent are all underlying prejudices that Hispanic employers may consider in Hispanic job applicants, confesses a blogger who works in the multicultural advertising/marketing industry.

It may not be conscious, but Rochelle Newman-Carrasco says that this discrimination is common practice, the so-called “elephant in the room.”

On skin color:

“If truth be told, there are U.S. Hispanic agencies whose staff photos simply do not reflect the diversity of the U.S. Hispanic population as a whole. Black Hispanics have historically found it difficult to find acceptance within some Hispanic circles.”

On accent:

“There are any number of accented Latinos who not only can make themselves understood, but also can out-think and outperform some of their non-accented co-workers. Nonetheless, over the past six months, I have received at least two calls from general-market colleagues about creative positions they were seeking to fill. And in both cases they were hoping I knew someone who “didn’t have an accent” because they didn’t feel their clients would be comfortable.”

Click here to read the full blog post by Newman-Carrasco.

Latino teens and their parents benefit from biculturalism, a UNC Chapel Hill study shows. Young Latinos who embrace their heritage, and whose parents are more involved in U.S. culture, were shown to have higher self-esteem and experience less anxiety, depression and substance abuse.

The study’s co-author, Martica Bacallao, Ph.D., remarked:

“It is interesting that, in order to obtain these benefits of biculturalism, adolescents and parents often need to do the opposite of what their natural tendencies tell them. Parents who are strongly tied to their native cultures must reach out to learn skills in the new culture. Adolescents who quickly soak up new cultural behaviors should slow down and cultivate the richness in their native cultures.”

In other words, acculturation is not a black or white matter, either wholly rejecting the former Latino culture or accepting the new American one. A healthy balance of recognizing both can help Latino youth moderate the stress they feel trying to please both sides.

Read the full report here.

A library exhibit in Kissimmee charting the history of Puerto Rican culture in Florida from the mid-20th century until the 80s provides a glimpse into one of the cultures that has had a strong influence on the state.  The exhibit seeks to educate about Puerto Ricans and their culture as well as dispel some stereotypes people have of those from this U.S. territory.

Language wasn’t the only challenge - stereotypes were a problem, too.

“Puerto Ricans in Central Florida have also repeatedly encountered in their new neighbors a lack of knowledge about Puerto Rico’s history and its relation to the U.S.,” the exhibit notes. “Light skinned Puerto Ricans were told that they don’t look Puerto Rican.” And even though Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917, “Lawyer James Auffant was asked for his green card when he applied for a job with Orange County in 1977,” the liner notes state.

To read more details about the exhibit and snippets about the unique culture and contributions of Puerto Ricans, click here.

Cheskin Consulting recently posted in their blog about the Hispanic naming system.  Typically, Hispanics born in Latin America are given four names: a first, a middle, and two surnames, one from the maternal line and the other from the paternal.  But since, in the U.S., we’ve got a different naming system, many Latino immigrants lose parts of their names.  And blog author, Maria Parra, finds that in losing their second name, they lose a bit of their culture and identity.

So what? Well, when Hispanics move to the US, their middle name automatically becomes just an initial, it disappears from documents, and from their life. It was my situation when I first moved to the U.S., I would introduce myself as “Maria Lucia” and people would spontaneously answer “hi Maria” and “Lucia” disappeared from all my documents; suddenly I became “Maria L.” That never happened to me before coming to this country and at the beginning it sounded weird.

While I understand the author’s lament at losing part of her name, I’ve found that the loss of one of the surnames can be more critical and confusing.  In fact, because in the States, non-Hispanics usually use the last surname, that of the maternal line, people are often misidentified. 

When working with Latinos, it’s important to keep in mind that many have both surnames on their official documents (sans hyphen) and often don’t recognize the use of only their maternal surname.

To read the entire blog post, click here.

An older post on the LatinoLA website offers a humorous piece on relative levels of Spanish-speaking in the U.S.  Well-meaning first generation immigrants often don’t push their children to learn Spanish because they want them to succeed by speaking English, but in many cases this is to the detriment of people growing up with Hispanic looks and surnames.  Even I admit to being taken aback when I meet Latinos who speak very little Spanish. 

Al Carlos Hernandez ends his humorous editorial with the difficulties of taking Spanish study seriously as an adult:

I really wish I could converse in Spanish but there is too much pressure. If you take an adult class as a Latino they will expect straight A’s and think that you are there to pick up women. You can’t practice on native speakers because they will clown you and player hate you because you drive a German luxury car.

Recently, I’ve realized that I have reached a point in my social career where I can understand about 70% of what someone is saying to me in the mother tongue if I can watch their lips. Since many Latinos have big lips, this has made my job easier. I have been able to lay out several sentences together and have received in-kind reciprocal response.

To read the entire article, click here.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials found that nearly half of the newly naturalized American citizens in 2008 were Latino.  The agency used data from the Department of Homeland Security to compile their report and credits a few different factors for the increase:

In a report released in March, the agency attributed the record number of new citizens to the nearly 1.4 million citizenship applications it received in 2007. Most were from people who wanted to beat a $265 increase in the citizenship application fee, from $330 to $595.

 

But the department also credited “special efforts” by Hispanic media, community groups and a union with high immigrant membership, all of which urged eligible permanent residents to pursue citizenship.

These stats stand in contrast to the prevailing myth that immigrants, particularly those from Spanish-speaking countries, do not want to fully participate in civic life in America.

To read the entire article, click here.

Though only 3% of Baton Rouge children are Hispanic, that’s almost double the pre-Katrina percentage.  School bus drivers are responding to the language barrier by taking Spanish classes so they can communicate with children and their parents. 

While many of the drivers spoken about in an online Louisiana periodical are pleased that learning Spanish opens their horizons, they’ve got the immediate gratification of being able to communicate their message to their small riders.

Both said they are excited to learn how to speak some Spanish as a way to broaden their overall knowledge, but their immediate concern is about trying to communicate with their often unruly student riders. Lee rattled off the Spanish phrases she wants to know right away.

“Sit down, sit down right now,” Lee said, laughing. “Be quiet. I’m calling your parents. Put that down there. This is my last warning.”

To read the entire article, click here.

A recent article in the Washington Post detailed the brain drain that the U.S. is experiencing as talented professionals return to their countries of origin.  And the O.C. Register describes the effect that the large numbers of Mexican immigrants departing has on both the immigrants themselves as well as the businesses that cater to them. 

Both articles mention the industries that suffer when immigrants depart. 

From the first article:

Why does all this matter? Because just as the United States has relied on foreigners to underwrite its deficit, it has also depended on smart immigrants to staff its laboratories, engineering design studios and tech firms. An analysis of the 2000 Census showed that although immigrants accounted for only 12 percent of the U.S. workforce, they made up 47 percent of all scientists and engineers with doctorates. What’s more, 67 percent of all those who entered the fields of science and engineering between 1995 and 2006 were immigrants. What will happen to America’s competitive edge when these people go home?

From the second:

The financial downturn has hit immigrants especially hard because many of the industries that employed them, such as construction, have taken a severe nose dive, said Jorge Chapa, director of the Illinois-based Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society.

Of course, it’s too soon to see the long term effect of this immigrant exodus, but I wonder if native born Americans will get the skills to fill the high tech positions and the gumption to fill the labor-oriented positions.