Some of the stories that caught our attention this week:
Survey: Education More Important to Hispanic Voters – To woo Latino voters, a new national survey finds that presidential candidates would be wise to focus on education issues. A survey finds that nearly nine of every 10 likely Latino voters identify education as a ’very important priority’ for the next president. It also shows that a candidate’s position on education issues will have a greater impact on Latino voters than the candidate’s stance on any other issue, including immigration and health care. ’Latino voters know where their economic and social status is in this country, and that the key to improvement is education,’ said Roy Romer, a former Democratic governor of Colorado who heads a national group promoting education issues in the 2008 presidential race. ’Every family knows that if they don’t improve their skill set, they’ll be hit pretty hard by economic troubles.’ Hispanic Business, online.
For Hispanics, think beyond language – When it comes to reaching Hispanics, using Spanish-language advertising might seem like a no-brainer. But according to a new study from Simmons Research, a New York-based tracker of consumer behavior, that’s not necessarily the case. While first-generation Hispanics prefer Spanish-language advertising because it’s easier to understand, second- and especially third-generation Hispanics are somewhat indifferent to it. Just 6 percent of third-generation and 16 percent of second-generation respondents agreed with the statement “When I hear a company advertise in Spanish, it makes me feel like they respect my heritage and want my business,” compared with 49 percent of first-generation respondents. And while more than half of first-generation respondents said they’d be more loyal to brands that advertise in Spanish, just 33 percent of second-generation and 22 percent of third-generation respondents agreed. The study also found that first-, second- and third-generation respondents’ opinions varied on technology and technology adoption, too. Dr. Max Kilger, chief behavioral scientist at Simmons, talks to Media Life about Spanish-language advertising, acculturation and online radio listening. Media Life Magazine, online.
Immigrant parents struggle to keep their children bilingual – After a lunch of hot dogs and rice, Jordy Berges blasted a ball off the wall of the lunchroom at his mother’s office, his stomping grounds for the summer. ’Sorry,’ he answered her, in English. Berges, an immigrant from Peru, is growing accustomed to such conversations with her son. She is struggling to raise him to speak English and Spanish fluently, which might not seem like a big challenge in the city with the highest proportion of Latinos in Massachusetts. But researchers say Berges and immigrant parents nationwide are confronting a difficult truth: Their children are losing their languages. According to research presented to Congress in May, even the children of immigrants prefer to speak English by the time they are adults. Rubén G. Rumbaut, a sociologist at the University of California at Irvine, and his team of researchers looked at 5,700 adults in their 20s and 30s in Southern California from different generations to see how long their language survived. A key finding centered on 1,900 American-born children of immigrants. The shift toward English among them was swift: While 87 percent grew up speaking another language at home, only 34 percent said they spoke it well by adulthood. And nearly 70 percent said they preferred to speak English. The Boston Globe, online.
Survey: Hispanics Professionals Say Future Looks Bright – Hispanic professionals are better educated than their parents, optimistic about their future and generally younger than their non-Hispanic counterparts, according to a recent survey. The Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help Hispanic professionals at all stages of their careers, recently released the results of its 2007 Latino Professional Pulse Survey. According to HACE, 70 percent of survey respondents said neither of their parents completed a four-year college degree. However, 85 percent of the participants hold at least a bachelor’s degree, while 38 percent have a graduate degree. ’We are in the middle of a widely controversial, but necessary, immigration debate in this country. Yet, we as a society have overlooked the fact that a large number of Latinos are becoming educated and advancing rapidly in their careers, working at leading companies and serving as stellar examples to their communities through their civic leadership and philanthropy,’ said Abe Tomás Hughes, president and CEO of HACE. Hispanic Business, online.
ITunes Latino Hopes To Hear Registers Ringing – Tu ritmo. Tu música, tu iPod,’ say the iTunes Latino television ads that originally broke last November. Now, Apple may have to add the word ’tu tarjeta,’ as it rolls out its initial foreign language gift cards in the U.S. this week. Beginning today, Tarjeta iTunes will be available in denominations of $15, $25 and $50, and will be good toward any purchase at on- and offline iTunes Stores. If telephone calling cards are a guide, the demographic is a strong target for prepaid cards. Seventy percent of Hispanics living in the U.S. use prepaid calling cards, per IDT Hispanic Calling Cards, Newark, N.J. IDT sells more than 20 million cards every month. Because of the affordable rates and flexibility, ’prepaid calling cards make it easier to call home. The Hispanic population has been using them for years,’ said Cristina Benitez, author of Latinization: How Latino Culture is Transforming the U.S. ’The behavior pattern [of using cards] has already been created, so it’s easy to move it into another area.’ Brandweek, online.
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