The Times They Are A-Changin’

by Bob Dylan

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

As a nation we are in the middle of a cultural revolution. Can you feel it? The latest census figures are out and times really are changing.

According to the most recent census reports, women are becoming more educated (they now outnumber men in the number of doctoral degrees conferred), populations are shifting from rural and urban areas to the suburbs, and household size is increasing (mostly due to immigrant populations who are more likely to live in multi-generational homes.)

America is also aging and diversifying at a faster rate than anyone predicted.

According to the reports, the number of people age 85 and older (5.5 million) has doubled since 1990. While the older population increases, the younger population is dramatically diversifying.

According to a recent article on the front cover of USA Today, “One of the most significant demographic trends of the past 20 years is the explosive growth of Hispanics.” Half of the population growth in the United States over the past 20 years is from the 30 million person increase in the Hispanic population. One in six Americans is Hispanic.

“An entire Venezuela’s worth of Hispanics was added in just those two decades.” said Robert Lang, urban sociologist, University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the article.

This growth is not just found in traditionally considered high Hispanic population states like California and Florida. In 1990, North Carolina’s population contained only 1% Hispanics, in 2010, the census showed almost 7%. The Hispanic population in Illinois has doubled in the past 20 years going from 7.9% to 15.8%.

While black and white racial relations saturate our nation’s history, 2003 marked the first year Hispanics surpassed African American in population numbers.

After the census figures release in 2000 it was predicted 2050 would be the year our population shifted to less than half non-Hispanic White. That timeline has now shifted to 2042.

Part of this dramatic diversification rate is due to a higher than average birthrate for Hispanic women (2.9 versus the national average of 2.1). Another significant reason is the increased number of people claiming more than one race.

The 2000 census marked the first year people were allowed to select two or more races on their form. Nine million people reported more than one race. Of marriages today, one in seven contains a spouse of a different race or ethnicity. Their bi-racial children will check more than one box on their next census form.

These latest census numbers represent changing times in our nation’s cultural, racial and ethnic history. In the USA Today article, William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution, a non-profit public policy organization in Washington, DC, was quoted as saying, “The future is people of all races and ethnicities.”

Change is a beautiful thing.

(Sherry Dineen)

Les Merveilles de l’Oreille

The appeal of not understanding what is said and how to make good use of it

A few weeks ago I had the chance to interpret press interviews for German rock band Rammstein at the Forum in Los Angeles and witnessed their large-scale, fire-wielding show as well as the frenzy of their American fans. It was quite incredible to see (and hear) the audience sing along in a language they don’t actually speak. The language barrier seemed to enhance the appeal of the band much rather than diminish it. Granted, death metal is just the kind of music that lends itself to German interpretation, but the fascination that comes with foreign sounds and what they are communicating on a different level than the words we know goes far beyond the boundaries of musical styles and music itself.

Basic instinct

We tend to have a reaction to what we sense characterizes a specific language—French appears sophisticated and at the same time very sensual not only to English ears, Italian is perceived as passionate while the use of English comes across as trendy in many countries, largely because it is the leading language in popular culture but also in science and technology. Advertisers have been using this tool increasingly since the onset of globalization, but not without roadblocks. A study in Germany a few years back showed that although people responded well to ads and commercials fully or partially in English, they actually understood way less of the content than expected. In order to bring your message to market, it is crucial to know where you rely on the sheer effect of the language itself and where you need specific information to be conveyed.

The seductive power of foreign languages is beautifully demonstrated in Atom Egoyan’s 1993 film “Calendar”. The Armenian-Canadian filmmaker’s protagonist (played by Egoyan himself) invites an attractive woman of a different background for dinner each month, and invariably she gets up half way through the meal to make a personal phone call in her native language, while he listens on. Neither he nor the audience understands what is being said, but the effect is the same every time. It’s the mystery itself that creates the allure of the call.

Forms of seduction

The words need not to be spoken to unfold their alluring effect. As we know from product names, jewelry, T-shirts and even tattoos, the visuals of a foreign language can create an impression that is just as catching. Asian characters have a particular strong impact in the West, although people have become somewhat wary of the fact that slightly different designs can result in entirely different meanings and that mistranslations are common. You wouldn’t want your latest perfume to be called “Strange” when you were going for “Mysterious”. And while deliberate rephrasing or adding of accents to foreign words in the Latin alphabet can create a unique brand or product name, you want to make sure it comes across as an intentional creation and not as bad spelling and/or grammar (singer Rihanna recently took a lot of heat for a supposedly “wrong” French tattoo, but her slightly re-named fragrance escaped criticism).

Cultural affairs

Speaking of the French, it is well known that they are very protective of their culture and language and enacted their latest language protection law in the early nineties, which sets forth that the use of “Anglicism’s” in advertisements and packaging will be fined. That is definitely something to keep in mind when planning a European marketing campaign. Reversely but not less interestingly, the Germans have gone as far as making up their own English words as the popularity of the English language continues to grow. The cell phone is known as “Handy”, bullying as “Mobbing”, and “Oldtimers” is the German term for vintage cars (the classics can be found in the Mercedes museum…).

As always, know thy audience is the open sesame to any market. Tuning into the more subtle delights of a different kind of subtext as only our (actual and virtual) ears can provide, an exploration of the sounds of the unknown might yield just as many surprises as a dive into Rammstein’s dark lyrics.

Nanette Gobel, MA

Health Disparities CAN Be Reduced

Prominent physicians suggest that health disparities of Latino children with ADHD could be correlated to cultural factors as reported at the annual conference of the National Hispanic Medical Association. According to Dr. Andres J. Pumariega, chairman of the psychiatry department at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J., and an expert in cultural diversity and mental health, ADHD is typically diagnosed through parental reporting. Cultural misconceptions might prevent parents from recognizing or acknowledging the illness in their children. Parents often believe ADHD is misdiagnosed in Latino children, but they often think that it is being over-diagnosed, and data from more objective studies actually point to it being under-diagnosed. The reported rate of ADHD among Latino youth being low is misleading.

During the same conference, Dr. Eugenio M. Rothe, professor of psychiatry and public health at Florida International University, Miami, suggests that disparities in treatment between Latino youth and their white counterparts might be tied to several factors, including language barriers and a lack of parental understanding. Dr. Rothe also cited a national survey conducted by Harris Interactive that found that Latinos were less likely to be familiar with ADHD and nearly 10% less likely to know where to obtain treatment. He also suggested that ADHD can contribute to some of the psychosocial problems of Latino youth, including school dropout rates, teen pregnancy rates and substance abuse.

How can health disparities be reduced? Leading physicians recommend bridging the gap by offering patient education materials in Spanish and increasing the number of Spanish-speaking health care professionals. The materials would also have to be culturally relevant to make an impact. It could be years before Spanish-speaking health care professionals accommodate the sheer number of Latino patients. In the meantime, it would behoove the health care industry to be culturally competent. If health care providers can comprehend the importance of values in the Latino culture, this can be significant. Recognizing strong family ties and acknowledging respect and trust as inherent to a high quality relationship will make a difference. It can certainly be a step toward reducing health disparities.

MUR

Dear Technology - Part 2

Dear Technology,

Well, you’ve done it again.

Now you’ve gone and messed with our language. Will your madness never end?

The current generation of learners uses you to learn to speak, read and write.

You’ve infiltrated our diction as well. Your fancy lingo has permeated our daily verbiage. “Texting”, “sexting” and “facebooking” are not terms someone having survived the Great Depression would necessarily understand nor want to know.

Of course, you giveth and you taketh away.

Adding to our vocabulary is one thing but making us grammatically dumb is another altogether. Your texting and smartphone technology has modified how we express ourselves in written form. When you limit us to 140 words: punctuation & grammar r 1st 2go.

No one uses commas anymore. I must admit, sometimes that’s a good thing.

Small children exist in this world that have never actually held a book in their hands. They hold a Kindle or an iPad and touch a screen to turn pages in their Cat In The Hat.

Knowing nothing but high tech, they will expect high tech in return. Next they will expect their devices to talk back to them. Knowing you, you’ll do it too.

Or will you?

To talk back to us, first you have to understand us.

Sure, you can use your analytical skills to analyze our frequency of word use and derive patterns that intimate what we are trying to say. But do you truly understand?

You are akin to a good machine translation. You recognize a pattern and repeat it, but do you really get the nuances behinds the words?

Culture is not something you know because in your clinical mainframe world, it doesn’t exist. Your point of reference is purely analytical and language is so much more than that.

Language is backed by hundreds of thousands of years of history. It’s an organic, ever-changing entity that cannot be replicated.

Good luck with that.

Sincerely,
aiaTranslations

Fear Is Not An Option

If half the time you asked for directions, they were wrong and you got lost, you would be upset, right? What if half the time, it resulted in you bleeding in a ditch on the wrong side of town? Upset would no longer describe what you are feeling. Fear might.

Most people take prescription medication hoping to feel better, yet for non-English speakers, mistakenly translated prescription labels can make taking their meds a fearful experience.

According to a 2010 study of Bronx pharmacies conducted by Iman Sharif while at Montefiore Medical Center, the computer programs used to translate prescription labels had an overall error rate of 50%.

If “once a day” gets translated to “eleven times a day”, that’s close enough, right? What can it hurt if its not right? I’m sure eleven doses of an anti-seizure medication would be fine.

The software helps them comply with legal requirements to provide translation services but is it true compliance if half the time it’s incorrect and potentially lethal?

If you end up in a hospital or clinic, most states require non-English speakers receive translation services. Pharmacies, however, do not fall under this domain. Only one state, California, legislates translation services be provided in pharmacies.

In New York City, the Language Access in Pharmacies Act requires pharmacies with four or more locations provide non-English speakers with free and accurately translated labels, warnings, ingredients and brochures. They also must post signs in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Polish, Italian and French stating they provide such services.

The advocacy groups that implemented this Act, Make the Road New York and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest are currently pushing to expand this legislation to the rest of the state. To check their efficacy, the groups surveyed seven national chain pharmacies with 250 branches in New York State and found in locations outside NYC, about 50% of the pharmacies did not supply translated drug labels and 30% did not provide interpretation services.

Taking prescription medicines should not involve fear. "It's easy to be seriously injured or killed by your medication," said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhatten) who recently reintroduced the bill to expand the legislation.

“Folks are not getting the language services that they need,” said Theo Oshiro of Director of Health Advocacy and Support Services for Make the Road New York. “They are not able to take their medicines or are hurting themselves because they don’t understand the language that is used. If you are not providing language services to these folks, you are not counseling them appropriately."