KAMMS World Wide Blog

I was recently training a group of world language teachers on language acquisition and methodologies when an interesting topic arose: How can teachers integrate life lessons into daily language instruction?
After an interesting conversation with the group of teachers that day, I returned home and reflected on the language theories I had just taught. I realized that the ways we teach language are actually intertwined with the way we conduct our lives as social beings, regardless of what language we speak. The process in itself is a life lesson.
Let me explain. There are three ways (called strands) in which we teach a language. They are interpretation, interpersonal and presentational.
Interpretation
Interpreting language and situations is what we do as humans from the time we’re born. Before we can speak, we communicate with facial expressions, body language and sounds. We then interpret people’s responses as good, bad or indifferent. As we learn to speak the language, even though we hear the words the same as everyone else, we may interpret what is being said differently. So, in essence communication is dependent on the interpretation of the message. It is the same when we are listening to someone speak another language; we must interpret the meaning, not just the words.
Interpersonal
Interpersonal activities consist of the interactions that occur between individuals or groups. Again, we begin this activity (verbal and nonverbal) at an early age: with our families, at school and with friends. We continue these interactions for the rest of our lives. As second language learners, it’s imperative to use the new language with others as much as possible, to really understand how to communicate well and be interpersonal in the target language. Interpersonal skills are important for all aspects of our lives, regardless of what language you speak.
Presentational
Presentational activities assume there is an audience to whom you are presenting. This happens all the time in our daily lives; whether you are asking your boss for a raise, writing a blog post, sending an email or text, giving a toast, or actually presenting to a group. These are all life skills that are considered presentational. When learning another language, we need to be proficient in this ability as well. Taking into consideration that there is or may be an “audience” for your message is an important aspect of how we use our language. It’s also an important facet of life.
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Learning a new language is good practice for learning life lessons. The skills that you learn can be carried over to all aspects of your life. Not only do you gain a new ability (speaking another language), but you also hone your life skills.
It was an interesting revelation to see how entwined life skills and lessons are with language learning. I never really considered it before. But now I’ll be certain to let the teachers know that they are integrating life lessons everyday that they teach.

Would it affect the way you think?

There was an interesting article about whether or not our language affects how we think, in the New York Times a couple weeks ago. What their researched showed was that fundamentally all cultures think the same way, but there are many differences in how our language influences our thoughts. The meanings and feelings we attach to words can be much different between languages.

For example, in Spanish, everything is either feminine or masculine.  When talking about a friend, they must be described as either “el amigo” (masculine) or “la amiga” (feminine). But in English, if I said I went to the movies with my friend, you wouldn’t know if it was a male or female. So, the word in Spanish has a lot more meaning. Maybe we English-speakers don’t like to “tell all”.

To examine if attaching a gender to words makes a person think differently, they did various experiments. One test asked speakers to assign characteristics to things, like bridges, clocks and the world. Depending on which gender the language applied to that word, determined the characteristics that the speaker thought the object had. For instance, bridges (a masculine word in Spanish) were considered “manly” to Spanish-speakers and “elegant and slender” to Germans (a female word in German).  It would be interesting to know if these differences have affected the design of bridges around the world.

Another experiment further proved that our language can influence how we think about things, by asking participants to give voices to inanimate objects in a cartoon. People who spoke “gendered” languages applied female voices to feminine things (like spoon in Spanish -“la cuchara”) and male voices to masculine things (like fork -“el tenedor”).

Another area of difference in speech is when talking about location and directions. In English, we use right, left, in front, behind, etc. We only use geographical terms when we’re reading a map or out hiking with a compass. Yet, an Australian aboriginal language (and many others across the globe) only uses north, south, east and west when talking about location or directions. They would say: “My wallet is in my southern pocket.” Unless we are standing there with our trusty compass, we’re going to have some trouble understanding which one he’s talking about.

All of these differences in language can also be attributed to our culture; as language and culture are intertwined. The meanings and feelings attached to words, how we communicate and also our beliefs have been instilled in us since we were born. The thoughts just come naturally to us, because it’s all we’ve ever known. Just as the people who think in a geographical language can’t explain how they instantly know which way is north, a Spanish-speaker can’t explain how they instinctively know a word is feminine.

It’s difficult to know exactly how significantly these differences affect our decision making, our opinions, misunderstandings with others, etc. But we do know that there are hidden and visible differences among languages of which we need to be cognizant. Until we know more, the best way to understand another language is to first take a look at our own.

What do you say so naturally, that you may be misunderstood by someone who speaks another language? Do you attach meanings or feelings to words that could be completely different to someone else? Maybe you even have differences in the language of your own “family” culture. It’s interesting to explore if your language affects how you think.

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No matter what business you’re in or what your position, chances are you have interactions with Hispanic consumers, co workers and/or employees. This is due to the fact that the Hispanic population is the largest minority group in the U.S. with approximately 50 million people and the population continues to grow at a rate faster than all other groups. This number is expected to increase to 102.6 million people by 2050.

This means big opportunity!

Hispanics’ purchasing power is over $1 billion and this is expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2012. This is greater than the entire Mexican economy.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanic purchasing power in the U.S. is growing at triple the rate of the overall US population.

Top retailers and product manufacturers are recognizing this and reaching out to the Hispanic community. Pepsi has embraced Shakira as its dancing celebrity spokes model, Kmart is promoting merchandise with pop singer Thalia, Kraft has its own Hispanic marketing team, Hallmark Cards is growing its line of Spanish-language greeting cards and JetBlue built a Spanish-only Web site and purchasing process.

So, the population is growing at a faster rate than the general population (3% a year to 0.8% for everyone else) and the disposable income is growing faster than the general population. There’s no denying that these facts point to great opportunities for businesses and professionals.

Down economies are a perfect time to evaluate where you are, where you want to be and what opportunities you want to pursue. The Hispanic market is the only market seeing real growth right now! This one seems like a “no brainer”!

Tapping into the Market!

Ok, now you know this incredible market opportunity exists; but how do you tap into it?

Here’s a list of suggestions to get the cash flowing to you or your business*:

• Translate Marketing Materials into Spanish. (websites, brochures, flyers, packaging, etc)

• Learn Key Spanish Phrases for your Industry. (“Can I help you?” “The property is for sale.” etc.)

See www.spanishonthejob.com for job-specific language programs.

• Learn about the Hispanic Culture. (tons of info on the internet, books, etc.)

• Hire Spanish Speaking Employees. (Try LatPro.com)

• Make Sure your Product Addresses the Needs of Hispanics.

*KAMMS World Wide can help you with all these suggestions and design a custom plan for you or your business in order to optimize sales with the Hispanic Market. Contact us at info@kammsworldwide.com for more info.

This is the Time!

Don’t miss the boat on this one. Many businesses are starting to realize the immense potential in this large and quickly growing market. Hispanics are a largely under served market and you’re just the business or person to help bring products and services to them.