Language accommodation for voting – or a lack thereof – could swing 20 congressional elections this November, according to a new report published Monday in The Nation.
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Language accommodation for voting – or a lack thereof – could swing 20 congressional elections this November, according to a new report published Monday in The Nation.
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As retail banks and other financial institutions set their sights on the future, they see a landscape filled with growing disruption. In addition to the rapid adoption of new technologies, the industry also realizes that U.S. consumers of the future are likely to be more racially and ethnically diverse. Among multicultural consumers in the United States, Hispanics are the fastest-growing group, expected to account for over half of all population growth by 2020.
Presenting financial products in a way that appeals to Hispanic-American consumers is a growth goal for many in the industry. But survey data show that banks have a long way to go in this area.
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The Hispanic and Asian populations in Bowling Green, Kentucky, have more than doubled since the turn of the century. Fourteen percent of the city’s residents are originally from another country, giving it the highest percentage of foreign-born citizens in the state.
Calls from limited-English speakers to dispatch and other city services come in high volume.
“Daily – I would say multiple times every day,” said Amelia Bowen, Bowling Green Police Communication Manager, in an interview with news station WBKO-13. “We can’t staff someone 24 hours a day that would be able to meet the whole community’s language needs. So LanguageLine breaks that barrier and gives us the instant access we need to help everyone in the community.”
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“This is community policing on steroids.”
These were the words of Nassau County (NY) Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder on Wednesday when he announced the implementation of the LanguageLine InSight Video Interpreting application in patrol vehicles.
The interpretation service was already available in police precincts, headquarters, and other buildings. The addition of the interpreting application to officers’ cell phones allows them to communicate on-demand with residents using a video interpreter in 36 languages (including American Sign Language), as well as 240 languages in audio-only.
“It’s one way that we’re proving that every single person in Nassau County – in our growingly diverse county – will be respected and be protected,” County Executive Laura Curran said.
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For a majority of Americans, banking is just a part of life. However, roughly a third of the population has little or no access to a bank, according to the FDIC’s most recent National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households.
That means banks and other financial institutions looking to expand their reach have a tremendous opportunity to do so by reaching this group - provided they use the right approach. Here’s a look at the unique needs of unbanked and underbanked populations and what organizations can do to bridge the gap.
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Banks, mortgage companies, consumer lenders, credit card issuers, payments networks, auto lenders and leasing entities are all staring into a future filled with disruption.
There has been much talk about the “bank of the future.” Conversation has centered on offering appropriate technology and channels, but there is one critical element that is frequently missing: language.
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Why?
When you do something every day, you tend to lose perspective from time to time. It’s the nature of work that we get so close to what we do that we sometimes forget why we’re doing it.
Three recent news items have refreshed our perspective and reminded us of our “why.” They prompt us to remember that what we do each day is actually pretty remarkable.
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The elections office in Potter County, Texas, knew they had a problem after the 2016 Presidential election.
“We know that we have voters who are citizens (who are) eligible to vote and registered to vote, but if they don’t understand the language they may not actually come to vote,” Potter County Elections Administrator Melynn Huntley said in this recent video from KFDA News Channel 10 in Amarillo. “(After 2016) we realized we had a gap, particularly with American Sign Language and Somali.”
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When Procter & Gamble started selling Pampers diapers in Japan, they used the classic image of a stork carrying a baby on the packaging. They later discovered that while the legend of the stork is common in the U.S., Japanese parents tell their children a different tale. Instead of arriving by stork, babies arrive in giant floating peaches.
You might think both legends are equally strange, but the fact is, you’re more likely to purchase a product that fits the narrative you know.
That’s why any brand introducing a new product to a global marketplace needs to consider localization, internationalization and globalization well before the launch.
Let’s take a closer look at the difference between these commonly confused terms and how they work together as part of a well-designed global marketing strategy.
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The pace of globalization is accelerating, to the extent that half of customers for U.S. businesses will come from overseas by 2025. Meanwhile, three-quarters of Internet users already speak a language other than English, with that percentage expected to grow.
This reality could pose a stumbling block for some businesses. According to The Economist, nearly half of 572 senior executives interviewed said that misunderstandings and “messages lost in translation” have stalled major international business deals for their companies. More than 60 percent of these executives also said that poor communication skills have negatively affected their plans to expand internationally.
As organizations try to adapt to this new reality and optimize their language-access strategies, most are asking: Which business languages are the most important?
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