The American Dream, a key piece of which is home ownership, is flourishing in Latinx communities all across the nation. By every economic measure, the buying power of Spanish-speaking Americans is skyrocketing to the tune of over $2 trillion. That buying power is most especially manifesting itself in home ownership, evidenced by the statistic that […]
Continue readingWhen Miscommunication Turns Deadly: The True Story of Avianca Flight 52
What Happened? In January 1990, Avianca Flight 52 from Bogota, Colombia, to New York City, was running out of fuel on approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Due to weather conditions, the aircraft was kept in a holding pattern prior to landing, even though its fuel situation was critical. The flight crew communicated the […]
Continue readingHow To Improve Communication With Multilingual Patients In Healthcare Environments
The number of foreign language speakers in the United States has increased an impressive 90% since 1990. There are 38.4 million Spanish speakers reported in the US. The next most common language is Chinese, with 3 million speakers, followed by 1.6 million Tagalog speakers, 1.4 million Vietnamese speakers and 1.3 million French speakers. These populations […]
Continue readingLet’s Talk About It, Language Proficiency in the Workplace
We’re operating in a global economy. As a result, competition is far reaching, and companies are increasingly finding themselves at a competitive disadvantage when employees lack the functional language skills needed to do their job. These companies should be considering the following questions; are your employees actually qualified to communicate in another language effectively? How […]
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