Tom Kadala on the Hispanic Consumer

Opinion: High School Spanish should be taught by Native Bilingual Hispanics

For the past few decades, Spanish and French have dominated the options available to high school students looking to fulfill a language requirement to graduate. Today, as the sign of the times, both languages are slowly being replaced with the ‘new kid on the block’, Chinese.

With over a billion people and still growing, China’s promise for economic dominance has parents and teachers concerned. Resources once allocated for Spanish instruction, for example, have been slashed, thus potentially compromising the quality of teachers and the overall commitment from foreign language department heads.

Developing a Chinese curriculum may please parents, but think what it will do to our next generation of students in the US. In a recent survey of a prestigious high-school in Westchester County, New York, 75% of the parents who had taken four years or more of Spanish or French in high school are not able to read or speak the language today. In this same survey, students currently studying their fourth year of Spanish, for example, are not only struggling with present tense verbs but also experiencing difficulty pronouncing their vocabulary words with an acceptable Spanish accent. For those who are fluent in Spanish, listening to these students speak is truly discouraging.

The same survey data also generated some questions of concern. If the parents of a top Westchester school never learned their Spanish or French after four years of instruction, and their sons or daughters are currently struggling to cope with their Spanish or French (also after four years of instruction), what validates the claim that Chinese, a much more difficult language to master, will render any better results?

Perhaps some good may come from this Chinese language initiative. First schools will have to search for native speaking teachers who are fluent in both the language and the culture. Besides, it only makes sense to have a Chinese native teach Chinese. At some point, perhaps, these same department heads may recognize the value of hiring a native teacher from Latin America to teach Spanish. With so many bilingual Hispanics in the US, I would expect that they will not need to look far to attract exceptional talent!

Tom Kadala is the president of ResearchPAYS, Inc., a strategic business consulting firm dedicated to the development and expansion of Hispanic consumer markets. - (www.researchpays.net). Mr. Kadala can be reached at tom@researchpays.net.

Opinion: Many CEOs are Ignoring Warning Signals about Emerging Hispanics

Alarming statistics on the rapidly growing Hispanic population appear to be falling on deaf ears. Statements such as “25% of the US population will be of Hispanic descent by 2050” - (census.gov) or “Hispanic purchasing power will reach $1 trillion by 2010” - (hispanicbusiness.com) or “the average age of 60% of Hispanics in the US today is 13 years-old” - (pewhispanic.org) have dominated the headlines for the past year. Why then have statements of this significance practically become a ‘non-issue’ among corporate leaders?

There are two key reasons why CEO’s may appear to be ignoring these warning signals. First, their marketing departments and ad agencies may be telling them that Hispanics will eventually respond similarly to their existing ad campaigns as general market consumers; hence, eliminating the need to invest differently in this consumer group, long term. Secondly, their human resource departments may be having difficulty filling job openings with qualified Hispanic candidates; hence giving the impression to their CEO’s that the urgency to hire Hispanics has been somewhat exaggerated.

The striking parody between corporations looking for new ways to connect with Hispanic consumers and Hispanic professionals seeking meaningful employment within these same firms underscores some of the key issues that leaders need to address. If the ‘top brass’ leaders at major corporations do not help Hispanics to secure senior-level management positions, how then can their respective CEO properly approve a strategy to win over Hispanic consumers? Moreover, if a company’s CEO is not a strong advocate for nurturing diversity within the workplace, how then can their human resources department attract and retain the qualified Hispanic candidates that CEOs need to develop effective strategies?

The optimal solutions to gain favor among Hispanic consumers may vary from company to company. Certainly recruiting more Hispanic employees is a good start. Another suggestion may be to develop educational forums on Hispanic cultural differences for existing employees. Having both existing employees and new Hispanic hires on the same page will foster a more effective exchange of ideas. Despite these and many other efforts to include Hispanics in the workplace, the importance of placing Hispanic professionals at key decision-making levels should remain a top priority. Without the ability for Hispanics leaders to contribute in a meaningful manner, upper management may fail to recognize the warning signals from this burgeoning market and potentially provide a powerful edge to a new competitor.

Tom Kadala is the president of ResearchPAYS, Inc., a strategic business consulting firm dedicated to the development and expansion of Hispanic consumer markets. - (www.researchpays.net). Mr. Kadala can be reached at tom@researchpays.net.