Luis von Ahn’s new company, Duolingo, has set two very large goals: help users learn a language for free while simultaneously translating the Web. The start up may very well transform both the translation and language-learning industries in the process.

Needless to say, von Ahn has a stellar track record for Internet start-ups. He sold two previous companies to Google and solved massive challenges in the process – reducing spam, digitizing books, and improving the quality of image search – all by applying his research in crowdsourcing.

Luis von Ahn moved from his native of Guatemala to the U.S. to study mathematics but found computer science more appealing, eventually obtaining his PhD in the subject from Carnegie Mellon University. Today, as an assistant professor in computer science at his alma mater, he juggles his entrepreneurial work with research and teaching.

With Duolingo, he hopes to solve two enormous problems for the developing world: bring down the incredibly high-price of computer language learning to nothing and improve the quality and quantity of online content in languages other than English.

Professor von Ahn says, “Growing up in Guatemala has definitely influenced my work. $500 dollars is an insane amount of money for somebody in Guatemala to spend on language-learning software, like Rosetta Stone. It isn’t possible unless you are super rich. It’s a lot here in the U.S. too, but most people can afford it. Because of that, I realized that the only way people would use it from countries like Guatemala is if it’s totally free. So we’re committed to making everything free.”

In addition, he also sees a need for more and better content online in Spanish. “If you ever use the web in Spanish, you realize it’s ten times worse: the websites, design, content. Everything’s a few years behind in comparison to the U.S.,” says von Ahn.

A quick glance at Wikipedia’s home page confirms a dearth of content in Spanish. The open source encyclopedia features over 3,831,000 articles in English but only 854,000 articles in Spanish. That equals only twenty two percent of the content in Spanish as of that in English.

Duolingo currently offers beta users classes in Spanish and German and plans to roll out French, Italian and Mandarin shortly.

If you have ever re-typed two squiggly words on websites like Craigslist, Facebook, or Ticketmaster during an online registration or purchase process, then you already know one of von Ahn’s previous start-ups. reCAPTCHA reduces spam on email and social media sites as well as e-commerce fraud by preventing automated bots from signing up for thousands of new accounts, hence the acronym CAPTCHA, which stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”

Little do web users know that as they re-type those annoying, squiggly words, they are actually digitizing old printed material, one hard-to-read word at time. Computer scanning systems for old books or newspapers, like those used by the New York Times, fail to recognize around ten percent of the words on scanned pages due to water or pencil marks or even scratches and tears. Fortunately, humans can interpret the words. More than 40,000 Web sites utilize the reCAPTCHA widget to collectively transcribe over two hundred million words every day.

By “outsourcing” this tedious job to the “crowds” on the web (hence the name “crowdsourcing”) his system has been able to digitize old texts far more cost effectively and quickly than any other previously existing system. Google found von Ahn’s company so useful that it bought reCAPTCHA both for its security features and to facilitate the digitization of its Google Books project.

To learn more about Luis von Ahn’s work, watch his talk at TEDxCMU here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Just over one year ago, the hottest device since the laptop – the iPad – first launched. One of the first websites the Acento Team checked (probably like many of you) was our own flash-based agency website – Acento.com. We discovered (as expected) that it appeared as a blank page.

Steve Jobs famously attacked Flash, promising that his devices would never accept the Adobe-owned development platform. The Web was in transition (again). Gone were the desktops and even laptops. Slates and smart phones and HTML 5 are the trends for the foreseeable future. We realized it was time for Acento to reconsider the strategic goals and purpose of Acento.com.

A very in-depth review followed and we discovered additional areas for potential improvement with Acento.com that stemmed from using Flash. Among the problems were:

1) Our website featured limited, static content. A Flash-only site was difficult to update and keep fresh. We needed a content management system to reduce the need for a programmer or even a webmaster; it had to be something nearly any employee could utilize.

2) Acento had embraced Social Media previously but our (then) current website lagged behind in integrating those sharing tools where we could then recommend articles and research to our clients and fans.

3) We found that pages loaded far too slowly and thus users visited only one or maybe two pages on each visit, far fewer than we had anticipated.

4) Most importantly, because of the above reasons listed here, we discovered that our website under-performed in delivering leads.

We interviewed executives from the biggest names in their respective industries. Some were clients, like Wells Fargo or SuperValu, others were prospective clients and others still were contacts we had made through the years. We asked, “What do you look for in an ad agency website?” Some of the responses we expected but we also gained new insights about our target audience.

We did our homework, we assembled a small and agile team and our website goals quickly became clear. We aggregated all of the research into a single document and shared it with our web design and programming leads. Because we clearly delineated the problems with the current website, the user expectations, and goals for the new website, our process moved ahead smoothly. The Interactive Producer, Art Director and Digital Director presented the final plan to our executive team.

It took us only a few months to launch a new website from start to finish – on time and on budget – with a mobile version of the website. In fact, Acento is the first Hispanic advertising agency that has a mobile version of its website.

Only one month after our launch, our new site traffic jumped over 1000% and multiple leads came into our in-boxes. Our average time spent on the website more than doubled due to the fact that the average load time of Acento.com dropped dramatically. Our bounce rate has nearly halved and our page views have doubled. In the end, there were many key elements made this another successful project, some of which include:

1) Fresh content: Develop dynamic, up-to-date content about your company that engages visitors with your perspectives on the latest industry research and trends.

2) Search and social friendly: Make sure that your website welcomes the friendly search bots from Google and Bing/Yahoo! In addition, make sure that your site easily enables visitors to share content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, email or whatever social platform emerges tomorrow.

3) Analytics: Does your website deliver results? What key performance indicators are you measuring? Clearly define those in advance as well as what systems you plan on using to measure them.

4) Teamwork: Share information with all of those involved and make sure everyone feels a part of the process.

There you have it: our inside scoop on creating a digital success and grow your traffic by 1000%.

Cultural Identity: Between the United States and Latin America
Mr. Molina feels that Puerto Ricans differentiate themselves from the United States culturally and politically through the term “La nación,” (The Nation). “The nation is a cultural term. State is a political term. They are not the same. They found a unique way to define their political status, and made it so good that it’s been successful. They do have to evolve something better in the future, maybe not now. But ‘the nation,’ I don’t have any doubt that they are a nation with a cultural identity, with their own music, food, and language.”

Ortiz says, “Latin Americans think that we are like a State, part of the U.S. People from the States probably don’t know that Puerto Rico exists [laughing]. I don’t know where Puerto Rico is. Show me please.” Therefore, he feels that Puerto Ricans must adapt culturally more often.

“This doesn’t affect me because I am pro-American. I believe it benefits us to be exposed to globalization. We need to be exposed to this; and the USA is a leader in globalization.”

Dr. Calem feels that even though Puerto Ricans hold American citizenship and are greatly influenced by the U.S., they maintain a unique identity which means something special to them. Because of this, she feels that the statehood movement will not be accepted anytime soon.

“There is a colonial mentality here. You’ve had one hundred years of occupation; one hundred years of American presence. That’s why we depend on welfare. In the early 50’s when this started up, we had incredibly independent people – people who worked, people who struggled. Nobody wanted food stamps. It’s the same thing in the States. But it’s compounded here because it came from Uncle Sam from outside. A lot of the left wing intellectuals say they’ve killed us. We can’t stand up for ourselves. We expect to be given things. We don’t expect to be able to stand up and say what we want or need.”

Sometimes Latin Americans assume that Puerto Rico is just like other countries in Latin America. Weitzman noted that when a Chilean became the director of the local office for Johnson & Johnson in Puerto Rico, he expected business to be done much like it is in Chile and Latin America. In contrast, the Puerto Ricans in her office like to choose when they do something in an “American” way or in a “Latin American” way.

Weitzman continued by saying, “When the Chilean came, everyone thought that he was not going to understand us. He’s going to think we operate like Latin America but we’re not Latin American. Even the language, believe it or not, was a problem.” While the previous boss wrote his E-mails in English and didn’t speak any Spanish, the Chilean wrote his in Spanish. Weitzman said that the employees wondered how to respond – in English or Spanish.

In this way she describes Puerto Rico as a schizophrenic place because it is caught between those two worlds. Puerto Ricans see themselves as both Latinos and Americans, she says, and choosing between the two cultures seems random to her.

Molina says, “I think Puerto Ricans are perceived as Latinos. But Puerto Ricans perceive themselves as different from Latin America. It all depends upon the scenario, the context. When they talk about their relationship with the U.S., the majority of them perceive themselves as Latinos, with their own culture, their own roots. When they talk about Latin America, they perceive themselves as different in the way that they have more prosperity, that they are better, that they don’t have the kind of poverty that you see in Latin America. They have this sense of superiority over the rest of Latin America.”

Political and Economic Identity: Commonwealth of the United States
Many American companies do business in Puerto Rico because of its American political status which makes it easy to set up shop. Tax breaks and other economic incentives brought U.S. companies here during the industrialization period of the 1950’s and kept them here.

Lugo López says, “It helps that Puerto Rico has a relationship with the United States like we have now. We are U.S. citizens. We have the same postal service, the same money, the same capital systems. It’s easier to do business.”

Puerto Rico holds an unusual economic position between Latin American and the U.S. Compared to other States in the U.S., Puerto Rico has the lowest per capita income; but compared to other countries in Latin America, Puerto Rico has the highest per capita income.

Managing Language and Cultural Differences
Over the course of the discussions, my interviewees came up with four different solutions to managing differences in language and culture in Puerto Rico. They are: learning the language, creating self-worth among the employees and self-training modules on the internet and world wide web, and training for the family.

The first and most basic solution to cultural communication barriers is making an effort to learn the language. Mr. Molina says,“ Our former general manager, came here from the U.S. He had been here for four or five years. In his last year he started using Spanish in his speeches at the beginning and end. The people loved it because they saw him making an effort to communicate.”

“Because executives today do business all over the world, they have to understand cultural differences if they want to be effective. That means differences in culture that range from ethics to family issues to ways of doing business. If they want to be successful in business, companies should choose managers that speak Spanish because they will have a competitive advantage.”

When a business leader does not learn the language, Molina says “It is perceived like the boss coming from a different country and that he is not like us. It impacts styles of leadership. I think that they could improve their leadership by learning Spanish.”

A second solution Dr. Nina-Curt says, is personalizing work and building stronger communities in professional environments, something for which she has done training. “It’s finally seeping down because business is spending so much in retraining personnel. They talk about self-worth. They talk about interpersonal communication in business. But usually, the management never goes to those training sessions.”

She feels that cultural training will not only yield better understanding but better productivity. Employees need to function from what they believe in, their values and feelings – with feelings of deep identity, joy, and pride. “In twenty five years, most of the Americans have become so aware in the business world, that they immediately ask for cultural awareness training. It works tremendously here in Puerto Rico.” By creating a family-like atmosphere in a company, Dr. Nina-Curt says, “productivity and loyalty doubles, maybe triples.”

Mr. Molina feels that a reasonably inexpensive solution would be to have Human Resources provide cultural self-training sessions on the Internet not only for the expatriate employee but also for his/her family. Combining this with help from a local contact would be very effective.

Molina especially emphasizes training for the family. “If your family is not happy you just have to leave. It doesn’t matter if you personally adapt. If you risk your family unity, it’s too much. Companies haven’t taken care of that in the past. I think that even now there is room for improvement in every company, especially with the practical things. When you move from one country to another, your family is lost at the beginning. They don’t have friends. They don’t know where to go for basic things. They don’t know where it’s safe to go. Basic things like driver’s licenses you have to find on your own. Sometimes you find out what to do when you have your first contact with local police. [laughing]”

Yet another solution is keeping music and cultural activities for the Puerto Rican business person alive and well Dr. Nina-Curt says. “The one thing I think that has prevented total cultural contamination is that music hasn’t died here on the island. It’s still good for a man to be a musician, a poet, or a painter in Puerto Rico and still be a top manager.”

“People celebrate Christmas and holidays. You should see the dances they have at Christmas time for workers.Management doesn’t dare take them away. If somebody dies, wreaths are sent. In the States, the Puerto Ricans are shot to pieces because none of the important cultural institutions help them maintain self-worth. You haven’t seen the depression and the bitterness and the violence that I have seen among some of the Hispanics, both Tex-Mex and Puerto Rican. I don’t see it here. I think it’s a blessing we’re an island and a small one at that.”

Cultural Impact: Beyond Language
José Molina illustrates that communicating in English goes way beyond language. American business people respect interrupting and getting your point across; whereas, in Latin America they value position power and formal hierarchy.

“The higher you are in the organization, the more you need to be persuasive [in English]. The way in which you present things is critical. You have to understand not only the language but also the cultural differences. For example, in Latin America there is more respect for authority. Assertiveness is not as valued as respect is. So, if you disagree with an authority figure, you have to do it in a proper way. In North America you have to be assertive. You have to behave as if everyone is the same in the meeting. You have to speak your mind. The proper way is not as important as saying what you have to say.”

“I don’t know if this is only in Warner-Lambert or in every company, but they tend to interrupt meetings very much. They don’t wait until you have finished. In Latin America, this is a big difference. Not in the Caribbean. In the Caribbean everybody talks at the same time.”

Molina continues by saying, “I like that [in the U.S.] you are invited to speak your mind, in a less formal environment. In Latin America, it’s more formal. For example, here you do not use titles. You don’t see titles on the doors. Your academic title? You don’t use that – just the name. In the day to day relationships you use the first name of the person, even with the president. For example, everybody calls the CEO of our company Mel. I like that. I think that it invites you to see everyone as a person in the company.”

Ruben Lugo López differentiates the friendly mood in Puerto Rican offices with the straight-to-business approach in the U.S. “Puerto Ricans, like Latinos, would like to know more about you. They care more about your feelings and personal life. When you come in the morning and they say good morning, they would also like to know how your kids are doing. How’s he doing in school? Did you watch the soap opera last night? And you start talking for about, let’s say, ten or fifteen minutes, and you think you are loosing time because it’s time for business . . . working time. It’s not. The people need this to set that climate. Once they feel that they know each other and what happened in the last couple days then they start working.”

Valuing personal relationships can also be seen in how bosses treat their employees Dr. Calem says. “Loyalty is a major value here. The bosses that were good to their people, respected their people, and functioned as father figures were very successful. Traditional corporations behave like a father figure.”

How do Puerto Ricans learn about these cultural backdrop of business in the United States? Dr. Carmen Judith Nine-Curt, a retired professor and Department Chair of English as a Second Language at the University of Puerto Rico and Inter-Americana University, finds that the English-language textbooks implicitly teach American culture behind the English.

“The business books that we used at the University of Puerto Rico are all published in the States and written by Americans. So the business models that we use are totally North American. I think the same thing happens with teacher training. The whole mentality in the education school comes from the States.”

Numerous differences in non-verbal communication lie beyond language barriers which, according to some estimates, constitutes up to 70% of all communication. Lugo López says, “What does this mean? [Ruben makes the same motion in both hands, palms upward, of squeezing an invisible ball.] Too many. If you have a business meeting in the States and say we have a problem (making the previous motion). Is this an arthritic problem? What’s that? Is there something in the hands? No. There are many people here. It’s crowded.”

Lugo López discusses the greater number of holidays and vacation days as another example of cultural impact. “Americans need to understand that Puerto Ricans are really hard workers, but we have some times and activities that are, for us, very important. This is cultural. For example, we have to celebrate almost every occasion in Puerto Rico.” These events include birthday parties, showers, mother’s day, father’s day, and election day.

At Coca-Cola in the U.S., there are usually fourteen paid holidays, whereas in Puerto Rico there are 16 public holidays and fifteen days of vacation. This includes free days for birthdays, Election Day, two days for college enrollment and court appearances, two days for a death in the family, one day for new property ownership, jury duty as needed, one day paternity leave, and eight weeks of maternity leave at 100% pay. Whereas in the U.S., there are generally only nine. Lugo López explains, “This is cultural shock.” This is not really about days off but rather how Puerto Ricans value spending time with their family and friends.

At the same time, Mr. Ortiz feels, Puerto Ricans absorb certain aspects of American business culture, particularly workaholism. “Americans tend to be more workaholic than the average Puerto Rican. Here we emphasize our family. You need to have time for your family. But this is contagious. So many people now turn into workaholics like Americans. You can see that workaholics spend more than 10 hours a day at the office. That is not a normal life.”

Both Dr. Nina-Curt and Mr. Molina agree that women have much more power in Puerto Rico than in Latin America. This is due to the influence of American individualism building upon the African matriarchal elements in the Puerto Rican and Caribbean culture. Mr. Molina says, “You see a lot of women professionals here in Puerto Rico, many more than in Latin America. They have much more access to universities.”

“The problem here is that we adopt the U.S. legislation related to sexual harassment that was intended for the U.S., according to U.S. culture and behavior. It’s exaggerated when you try to transfer that from culture to culture. For example, we had a worldwide policy related to sexual harassment. But when you read the examples of harassment, some of them are laughable. For example, in Latin America it’s normal for a man to greet a woman with a kiss on the cheek . . . to say hello.”

Another cultural difference that Mr. Molina noticed among Latin Americans is to take care of visitors when they do business in your home country. This includes picking them up at the airport, taking them to the hotel, and eating dinner with them. “You are never alone, unless you wanted to be,” Molina says. This may include a welcome letter from your co-workers with everyone’s phone numbers at work and home. But Molina found that Puerto Ricans behave more like American when he picked up his rental car and went to the hotel his first day in Puerto Rico.

Cultural Influence of the Nuyoricans
It’s not only American business people that have had a tremendous impact on “la isla del encanto” (the island of enchantment). The Nuyoricans, or Puerto Ricans that live in New York (or elsewhere), have had just as big an impact if not more. Because of their American citizenship, many Puerto Ricans move to the United States to work or attend university. They acclimatize to life in the States and return to Puerto Rico, changing the culture on the island more than the expatriates do.

Rodriguez, who spent nine years attending University and working in Boston, says, “The Nuyoricans learned that they could function in the U.S. work environment bi-culturally, talking in both languages and being fully bi-lingual. That’s how they learned to survive and to make it in the U.S.”

The Nuyoricans that return to Puerto Rico do so to rejuvenate national pride and have a dramatic cultural impact upon the island by bringing back methods for accommodating and balancing American culture with their own. The native Puerto Ricans then use these methods to merge their culture with the American.

In the century since July of 1898 when Puerto Rico became part of the United States, Puerto Rico has experienced incredible changes due to the influx of not only American tourists, but more importantly American business executives and entrepreneurs. They have provided a significant number of jobs to the island. Factories began providing modern jobs and training during the 1950’s when the United States Commonwealth made a major effort to industrialize. This has had a considerable impact upon how Puerto Ricans interact and communicate with Americans and other expatriates but also how Puerto Ricans communicate and do business with each other.

This article serves to educate the reader about communication and cultural issues that exist in the Puerto Rican business environment. The cultural roots in Taino indian and Spanish culture have combined with the heavy influence from the United States in the past century to create a unique culture. By understanding these influences, business people can do business more effectively there as well as other Caribbean countries similar to Puerto Rico. In other words, Puerto Rico can serve as a paradigm or “gateway” for understanding other Caribbean countries from a U.S. perspective.

For this paper, I interviewed six business leaders and one communications professor from the University of Puerto Rico: two Americans, four Puerto Ricans, and one Guatemalan. Together they work for companies such as Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Warner Lambert (now part of Pfizer), Hewitt Associates (now part of AON), as well as other multi-national and Puerto Rican companies. All of these organizations have had a mix of Puerto Ricans, expatriate Americans and/or other foreign national employees.

We discussed a series of questions regarding the complexities of how Puerto Ricans and Americans work together in a multinational business environment and tried to determine:
1. How is the mix of English and Spanish handled in a professional environment?
2. How has contact with American business people and business culture impacted the Puerto Rican Spanish language, the working environment and ultimately Puerto Rican identity?
3. How does the rest of the world view Puerto Rico, as part of the United States, part of Latin America, or both?
4. How can the language and cultural problems raised be effectively managed?

Due to the immeasurable influence that the United States has had on the 111 mile by 33 mile island of Puerto Rico, a great discrepancy has arisen between how much Puerto Ricans know about the United States and how little Americans know about Puerto Rico. This, of course, changes the interaction and understanding between American and Puerto Rican business people. This problem begins with the language barrier and compounds with misunderstandings in culture.

The impact of the American style of doing business, which has been a global approach to business, has indelibly changed the business landscape of Puerto Rican culture. This has also changed how Puerto Ricans do business with Americans and other expatriates and how locals do business among themselves.

English vs. Spanish: Choosing Between Two Languages
The first potential roadblock to communications between Puerto Ricans, Americans, and other expatriates working together is language. The official language of Puerto Rico is Spanish, although many professionals speak English well. Companies assume their employees speak Spanish and English. Being bi-lingual is considered very desirable. Not speaking both languages can hinder career advancement, not only for Puerto Ricans but Americans and other expatriates as well.

Ruben Lugo López, the Human Resources Facilitator at Caribbean Refrescos, Inc. (Coca-Cola) and President of the Puerto Rican Chapter of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), says that in business meetings they speak English. But when everyone at the meeting speaks Spanish, then they switch over to using Spanish.

Debbie Wietzman emphasizes the need for English in training programs as the Director of Sales and Marketing for the professional division of Johnson & Johnson in Puerto Rico.

“We work towards hiring people that can speak English because most employees, at some point in their career, must travel to the United States for intense technical training that is only available in English. Our management in Latin America just created a new mandate, which was that all new hires have to be fluent in English. This is because training is so important. In Puerto Rico we would never hire someone if they weren’t bi-lingual.”

Warner-Lambert brought José Molina and his family from Guatemala to work as Human Resources Manager at their plant in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. He notices the great differences between his Spanish and that of the Puerto Ricans.

“Puerto Ricans speak Spanish but with a lot of English influence, not only from a language perspective but from a cultural perspective as well. Our Spanish in Guatemala is very different. We make jokes about that because we don’t understand one another sometimes when we speak Spanish to one another. Sometimes the same word has different meanings.”

Even though American executives should learn Spanish, Puerto Ricans don’t always encourage them to do so. This is, in part, a function of being accustomed to meeting so many Americans that never bother to learn any Spanish, a fulfillment of the stereotype of the “ugly American.” Nevertheless, learning Spanish still allows expatriates to overcome great communication and cultural barriers. Wietzman says Puerto Ricans would oftentimes rather demonstrate their ability to speak English.

“I consider myself fully conversant in Spanish. Whenever I speak Spanish to a Puerto Rican, they immediately respond in English. When they hear you speak, they do a little assessment of whether they are better at English or you are better at Spanish. And then they usually make a decision based upon that. Anybody who’s halfway decent will reply in English and kind of force you to switch to English. People speak back to me in English when I think my Spanish is actually better than their English. But really, they want to show me that they can speak English.”

Dr. Lee Calm finds the same to be true since she moved Puerto Rico with her husband and children in 1966. She is the Practice Leader of Organizational Effectiveness at Hewitt Associates’ San Juan office.

“If I’m in a store and I talk to a saleswoman in Spanish and she answers me in English, I’ll probably laugh because she doesn’t hear me speak Spanish. She looks at my face and decides that I’ve spoken to her in English. She expects me to be speaking English and her mind has turned off. That’s happened lots of times.”

Anibal Ortiz finds that his fellow employees at Sun Alliance Insurance, a London-based international insurance company, resent using English. “They read English because they have to. Most of the work they perform they need to speak Spanish for because the common people speak Spanish. They resist speaking English but they have to handle it because it’s part of the work of the company.”

“We have a mix of Spanish and Taino Indian culture and also American culture. We are an American commonwealth. This year we celebrated the 100th anniversary. Puerto Ricans resist this because it’s not the language that they use everyday. The public school system only has one English class per year. It’s a strange situation because people understand English but don’t express themselves in English.”

Blending Languages: Spanglish and Code Switching
The strong influence of English can be seen in Puerto Rican “Spanglish” where English words are adapted for use in Spanish. “Code switching” describes when Puerto Ricans switch back and forth from one language to another in a single paragraph or sentence. Both of these are common speech patterns in Puerto Rico.

Molina says “When you work with Puerto Ricans, you speak Spanish. But when you refer to your work, there is a lot of English involved. This is a manufacturing operation so everything relates to the process, even when we are speaking Spanish we refer to the English words. For example, we don’t say “mezclador.” We say “blender” because it’s easier. We have a strong relationship with the United States because this is a domestic operation.”

Molina also hears code switching in his office. “Some people here speak Spanish but they were educated in U.S. universities, so even when they speak Spanish, they start speaking in English. They continue in English and that’s not something strange for them.”

Regarding code switching, Ortiz says, “I don’t like that. You can hear this with Nuyorican people. They are mixing sentences – half Spanish, half English. If I’m going to speak, I would prefer to speak Spanish. Less educated people resist Spanglish much less.”

Calem says, “I’m going to e-mailearte, or e-mail you. That’s Spanglish: e-mailear. If the speaker thinks that the listener doesn’t understand then they’ll switch. I have had conversations at Telefonica Larga Distancia when my client is speaking 100% Spanish and I’m speaking 100% English. In the middle of our conversations I burst out laughing. I can speak in Spanish but it’s so complicated and so tense that lots of times it’s just easier for me to say it in English because it comes out faster. And she understands everything that I’m saying. We’re just going along there in parallel languages. And I’m 100% in English and she’s 100% in Spanish.”

Mrs. Rodriguez, the Internal Communications and Training and Development Manager at the Puerto Rican Cement Company in San Juan, says, “That’s a problem that we have. I think it’s terrible and I do it all the time. It’s happening more and more. People speak English at home. They only watch cable TV [in English]. And they read the San Juan Star [the local English newspaper] and the Wall Street Journal. If you’re going to be part of that world, you have to be part of that world. You cannot walk into that world in the morning and walk out of it at night because then you will become a psychotic! Either you’re part of that world or you’re not.”

Rodriguez cites Spanglish and code switching as a solution to the psychosis. “The way we have learned to manage is to mingle both worlds at the same time through the language, through the culture, and in business. But it’s not something that the North American businessman understands. It’s a survival skill that we learn probably from the Nuyoricans because otherwise we would go crazy. Imagine having to go to work everyday, become one person during those 10 or 12 hours at work and then be another person home at night.”

Does your company’s talent pool reflect the audience segments that will deliver the fastest growth? And have your executives fostered opportunities for a diverse leadership team that can best understand multicultural America? These are great questions to consider as consumers visit your stores, call your 1-800 numbers and buy your products and services. All of us in Hispanic marketing know that Hispanics represent the majority of the population growth. And, in many industries, they represent a substantial portion of the sales growth. For example, in the mobile phone industry, Hispanics accounted for 31% of all new wireless subscribers from 2009-2010, according to Simmons. And Hispanics rank number one in texting and number two in voice minutes used among all ethnic groups, according to a recent Nielsen telecom study.

Nevertheless, many companies lack the marketing or HR talent to understand diverse market segments with all-white executive teams. Even worse, some customer service groups speak only a little Spanish or face a deficit of know-how in meeting the needs of Hispanic customers.

In their new book, Latinization and the Latino Leader, co-authors Cristina Benitez and Marlene Gonzalez outline how organizations can foster Latino leadership and better prepare your organization for a far more diverse America in the years ahead. Specifically, the book provides cultural insights on the Latinization of America as well as a methodology for companies to assess, train, and develop their Latino employees.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Cristina Benitez, the author of the book and Director of the Latino Media and Communication program at DePaul University, about How to Value, Develop and Advance Talented Professionals, as the sub-title of her new book promises.

What does the Latina/o business executive face that her Caucasian counterpart doesn’t?
Many Latinas in business didn’t grow up with family role models who graduated from college and then went on to enter corporate America. This poses a significant disadvantage. In contrast, many privileged Caucasians have access to and enroll in prestigious universities. It takes additional determination and grit on the part of Latinas to overcome these hurdles.

Why do marketers need to create a more diverse employee base in their companies?
Innovation and collaboration make companies successful today. Having a diverse workforce naturally provides differing points of view and solutions to problems. In addition, a diverse employee base reflects the multiracial population of the U.S. today. According to a Pew Research Study released in June 2010, one out of every seven new marriages in 2008 was interracial or interethnic. This is the highest percentage in U.S. history.

What companies and leaders are doing it right?
The September issue of Hispanic Business lists them annually. This year, AT&T leads the pack. Marriott International, Exelon Corp., Procter & Gamble, Abbott, Coca Cola, Southwest Airlines have also done great work. These companies have incorporated Latinos into their workforces at all levels. To do it right, Latinos need to be in top leadership positions all the way down, and each level needs to receive the same level of respect.

What five takeaways does your book offer business leaders to retain, develop and advance talent for today’s multicultural America?

In our study, we discovered the following motivators for Latina employees:
• Latinas are educated – 70% of our sample was more educated than their parents. Many have gone on to get graduate degrees so companies can draw from an educated talent pool. Companies should seek bilingual candidates who can add both cultural and language insights to their talent pool.

• Latinas want corporate professional development opportunities. And just as importantly, they want to be heard, respected and empowered by their employers. In Latino culture, respect is regarded highly.

• Companies offering Employee Resource Groups (ERG) provide Latinos a forum for development, socialization, and camaraderie. The Latino culture values collectivism and ERG’s are a good way to support this Latino trait.

• The Latino Competency Model, discussed in the book provides insights about how to assess and utilize employees’ competencies and their contributions to the fullest. We do this by using the graphic models that can help you analyze the best roles for your Latino employees.

• Latinos are optimistic about the future. They have experienced their parent’s journey and know their generation’s opportunities are greater. Their optimism is contagious.

What companies do you think are doing a great job? Comment here or leave a comment on Twitter @joekutchera.

Immigrants have moved to the U.S. for centuries to escape persecution, create economic opportunity, and pursue the “American Dream.” Some of our country’s most reputable companies were founded by immigrants: Proctor & Gamble, Intel, Pfizer, eBay, Yahoo! and Google.

Sadly, the word “immigrant” now signifies something negative to many Americans even though almost all of us can trace their roots to another country. Immigrants constitute the very roots of America’s desire and determination to make it. Yet today, we make it nearly impossible for them to move here. Ironically, the brightest foreign students who attend U.S. graduate programs now find it easier to start businesses and create jobs in their home country.

In his introduction to my book, Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, tells the stories of his German-American grandfather on his father’s side who emigrated from Cincinnati, Ohio to Mexico as well as the story of his grandfather on his mother’s side who emigrated from Asturias, Spain. Mr. Fox continues by saying:

“Joe Kutchera, in this fascinating book, gives readers the opportunity to discover a few of the many stories of immigrants’ struggles on the road to success that have helped make the U.S. great, through their effort and commitment, and through their love and passion. In his book, he puts into clear perspective the dignity of immigrants around the world.”

A few of the stories that I feature in this book include:

Arianna Huffington moved from her native Greece to England and then on to the U.S. where she became a media mogul, as the founder of The Huffington Post. She recently sold her news site to Aol for $315 million dollars.

Bismarck Lepe grew up spending half the year in Mexico with his grandparents as his Mexican-American migrant farm worker parents worked their way up the West Coast picking the crops during the harvest season. His parents, both of whom had a grade-school education, told him and his brother that they had no idea how college worked but that they could work to earn the money they needed to attend college. Bismarck received a scholarship to Stanford University, studied engineering, and started working at Google in the company’s early days. After cashing in his Google stock options, he started Ooyala, one of the leading online video companies with his brother who also attended Stanford and worked at Google.

Norberto Guimaraes moved from his native Portugal to the “Mecca of Start-Ups” – Silicon Valley – to attend the MBA program at UC-Berkeley. He started MojaMix.com while in school, a company that makes custom granolas with high-quality, low-sugar cereals mixed with dried fruits and nuts. Consumers could customize each package with a unique message for family, friends, or clients. In a very short time, the company became cash flow-positive, hiring a number of Americans. But, because he could not obtain the proper visa, he had to sell the company and return to Portugal.

Ernesto and Heriberto Villareal moved to Milwaukee as young men in their early twenties, leaving their family behind in Mexico. They happened to move next door to a nice Mexican-American family with two young daughters, Criselda and Olivia, who gave them winter coats during their first winter. Many Mexicans moved to Milwaukee during the 1960’s for the numerous manufacturing jobs at companies like Harley-Davidson and Miller Brewing Company. Yet, all of the Mexicans in Milwaukee had to drive to Chicago, four hours round trip, to buy fresh corn tortillas every week. Ernesto married Criselda and Heriberto married Olivia and later, the two couples started El Rey Foods. Today, they employ 350 Milwaukeeans at four grocery store and one tortilla factory.

Saeed Roueenfar escaped his native Iran during the war with Iraq, moving around Europe as a refuge. Finally he flew to Mexico City and then to Tijuana, walking across the border nearly penniless. He called his brothers in Los Angeles, California for help. Today he owns two Mexican grocery stores and two discount retail stores. He learned to speak both English and Spanish without any formal classes.

What immigrant entrepreneur do you know? Email me at joe {at} kutchera.net or via twitter @joekutchera to tell me their stories. And please pass this around to other immigrant entrepreneurs that you know.Thank you!

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Immigrants have sailed to American shores for centuries to escape persecution, create economic opportunity, and pursue the “American Dream.” They bring an extraordinary hunger to succeed and a strong belief in our flexible economic system. Some of our country’s largest companies were founded by immigrants including Proctor & Gamble, Intel, Pfizer, eBay, Yahoo! and Google. Collectively, these businesses generated over $235 billion in 2010 revenues and employed 375,800 people globally.

Who are today’s immigrant entrepreneurs and how do they create opportunity for themselves, their employees, and their respective communities? Do their stories live up to the “American Dream”? The founder of the HuffingtonPost.com – Arianna Huffington – provides a perfect example of the immigrant entrepreneur. She moved from her native Greece to England and then on to the U.S. to become a media mogul, eventually selling her site to Aol for $315 million dollars.

Two new books answer those questions from distinctly different viewpoints, providing key insights for the immigration debate. One highlights the benefits that immigrant entrepreneurs bring to the U.S. while the other points out the challenges that minority and female entrepreneurs face.

The first book, Immigrant, Inc., tells the stories of successful immigrant entrepreneurs, mostly from a technology start-up perspective. It analyzes the positive economic impact that immigrants have had on communities like Philadelphia, which actively recruits immigrants, as well as states like California that have drawn immigrants for years. Richard Herman, an immigration lawyer, and Robert Smith, a journalist who covers immigration issues for The Plain Dealer, document the beginnings of large companies like Google and PayPal to lesser-known companies like A123systems, a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, and Xunlight, a maker of flexible solar panels, all started by immigrants. They describe these companies’ unique culture as:

Immigrant, Inc. is a culture of entrepreneurship and self-reliance built around a set of simple, powerful concepts: relentless preparation, lifelong learning, constant vigilance and exploration of opportunity (no matter how remote), a willingness to take risks, and a deep love and respect for American ideals like thrift and earnestness.

In the appendix of Immigrant, Inc., a 2008 study by the Small Business Administration, shows that Mexican immigrants represent the largest share of revenue among immigrant entrepreneur groups, probably because of the large volume of the Mexican-American population and the corresponding number of entrepreneurs. Yet, at the same time, Mexican-American business owners reported one of the lowest averages among all ethnic groups at $26,990 in annual revenues per owner. The second book explains why this may be the case.

In The New Entrepreneurs, Professor Zulema Valdez of Texas A&M University, takes an academic approach in dissecting “How race, class, and gender shape American enterprise,” as her subtitle states. Her research focuses on interviews of entrepreneurs, mostly restaurateurs, in the Houston area. Sadly but not surprisingly, her book shows how women and minority entrepreneurs face greater challenges in establishing their businesses, especially when they come from lower socio-economic classes. She finds that “middle-class Latinos are favorably predisposed to successful business ownership, when compared to working-class or poor Latinos.”

Some of the entrepreneurs she interviewed started businesses to find financial freedom while in other cases they started businesses to escape undesirable or even dangerous work conditions. Others hope to move beyond “blocked mobility” at work and become their own boss. One of the entrepreneurs, Señora León, says, “I came from people, like my mom, who had businesses…. When I was a child I saw her and her clothes shop; you carry that with you throughout your life.”

Her research concludes that, “for most Latino/a and Black entrepreneurs … the American dream remains, at best, only partially fulfilled. Although entrepreneurialism holds the promise of “making it” in America, differences persist among Whites, Latino/as, and Blacks.” Thus, “White middle-class and male entrepreneurs garner the greatest economic rewards in enterprise.”

Even with all of the challenges that lower-income women immigrants find, some of Professor Valdez’ interviewees achieve the American Dream, as Concepción Cortez describes here:

“I came here with one single piece of underwear just like everybody else. … I knew I liked the good life. I wanted a car; I wanted good clothes. So, I worked day and night. After three to four months after coming to this country, I had a brand new car. …. I came to work and fight because I wanted to improve myself. I wanted everything that was available, I was in the country of opportunity, but I also had to work. Why don’t others do it? Because they don’t want to. Wouldn’t you agree?”

In conclusion, both books highlight the importance of immigrant entrepreneurs in the new economy. Secondarily, they show the importance of education in achieving the American Dream. The higher the degree obtained, the greater chance of success for both the entrepreneur and employee.

What do you think? What immigrant entrepreneurs do you know that have achieved the “America Dream? Can the entrepreneurship perspective change the immigration debate? Please respond in the comments section below or contact me on Twitter @joekutchera

Watch this video of Richard Herman about his book Immigrant, Inc.

A recent post on WhiteHouse.gov outlines some discouraging statistics on Latinos getting the education they need to succeed later in life:
• Less than half of Latino children enroll in any early learning program.
• Only half of Latino children earn their high school diploma on time
• Those who do finish high school are only half as likely as their peers to be prepared for college.
• Only 13 percent of Latinos hold a bachelor’s degree
• Just four percent of Latinos complete graduate or professional degree programs.

Concurrently, Latinos make up an increasing share of today’s youth with over 12 million students in America’s public schools, or about 22 percent of all pre-K-12 public school students. In Los Angeles, where I live, Latinos make up 73% of all students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

This summer, I had the opportunity to volunteer with an amazing local non-profit, 826LA, that brings writing workshops to under-resourced students. My fellow volunteers and I mentored students to craft a storyline, develop characters, and write dialogue during “Playwriting camp.” In their drama, the students told the story of a teenager who discovers that his best friend is secretly a ninja after seeing him fend off a rogue bicyclist. The ninja later saves his buddy from the villain, who ties up the teenager, subjecting him to repeatedly playing the sickeningly syrupy teenybopper song “Friday,” by Rebecca Black.

Even though I work in digital/social media, my students had to educate me about how YouTube sensation Rebecca Black amassed over 100 million views and millions of “dislikes” before YouTube removed her universally criticized video from the site this past May. You can say that 826’s methodology makes writing fun for students and teachers.

Its national network of eight writing and tutoring centers — in Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC — serve over 24,000 students, ages 6 to 18. Volunteer mentors, like me, provide after-school tutoring, evening and weekend workshops, and help for English-language learners. 826 believes that exponential leaps in learning happen when students receive one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills provide the fundamental building blocks for future success.

What does 826 do to help students who can’t attend in person? It brings tutors into classrooms to help teachers get their students excited about writing and provide students the attention that they wouldn’t otherwise receive with impossibly high student to teacher ratios. 826 aims to reduce or eliminate the stigma of asking for help on homework.

Joel Arquillos, the Executive Director of 826LA says, “The one thing I hear most from our parents is how grateful they are to have a place in the neighborhood where their children are safe, engaged, and able to get their homework done. I remember from my own teaching experience how difficult it was for me to give the 200+ students I taught daily the individualized attention they needed to understand their homework or writing assignment. I like to believe that 826LA is that third place in children’s lives where they can get the positive attention they require and deserve.”

Author Dave Eggers and Nínive Calegari founded the first center, 826 Valencia, in the historically Hispanic neighborhood of San Francisco: the Mission. He wanted to connect two communities that could benefit one another: his circle of well-educated writer/journalist/editor friends and the neighborhood kids who wanted help finishing their homework and improving their writing skills. The name of the center stems from the actual address of that first location – number 826 on Valencia Street – thus christening the name of the national organization and its future locations across the U.S.

I first discovered Dave’s work at 826 after reading his excellent book What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, which tells the story of one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, his journey of survival during the Sudanese civil war, and his escape to the United States. I was inspired to teach writing. I searched for Eggers online to discover that 826LA was right around the corner from mi casa. What makes 826 so successful is its transformative methodology. Every week, during summer camp, the 826LA staff types up, formats, bounds and publishes the students’ best work. Kids will work harder than they’ve ever worked if they know it’s going to be permanent and on a shelf. Dave Eggers calls it “validation through publishing.” The look on the kids’ faces proves its effectiveness.

As an example of its publications, following the election of Barack Obama, mentors asked 826 students from across the country what the new President should do. In a collection entitled Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country the students shared loads of advice for our 44th President, which is now available for sale on the 826 National website. Chad Timsing, age 9, from Los Angeles says, “If I were president, I would help all nations, even Hawaii.” And Sheenie Shannon Yip, age 13, from Seattle writes, “I really hope you put America back together. No pressure though.”

To learn more about how Dave Eggers built his non-profit to help under-resourced students, watch his humorous retelling of the story on TED.com.

How should marketers customize a Facebook initiative for the U.S. Hispanic market? State Farm’s Aymee Zubizarreta answered that question during our recent conversation about how the insurance giant found its voice and connected to its Latino audience with content about music, family and culture on the leading social network.

Q: This past April, State Farm became the first national insurance company to create a bilingual (English, Spanish) social networking site for Latinos. Why did State Farm launch a Facebook page specifically for the Hispanic audience? Do you find that this helps sell financial services directly or simply provide a platform for consumer engagement?

A: You have probably heard our jingle, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” For us, this is much more than just a phrase, it’s our mission. By establishing a social networking page that speaks to America’s largest minority group, we are building an online community of vecinos where Latinos, regardless of their language preference or country of origin, can share their ideas; express their opinions or learn something new.

Given the overwhelming number of Latinos who have turned to Facebook as a way to stay connected with friends and family on a regular basis, it made perfect sense for us to build State Farm Latino.

Just like in any relationship, State Farm understands that we need to earn the trust and respect of our customer before we can have a share of the wallet.

Therefore, State Farm Latino is more about building long-lasting relationships and having meaningful exchange of ideas and conversations with our customers rather than pitching a new product or service and having a one-sided chat.

For a brand to communicate effectively online, we believe one has to listen twice as much as one speaks while also being respectful, courteous, engaging, straightforward, and culturally relevant at all times.

Q: You included two applications on the page: one, an e-card to send for Mother’s day, and two, a music game. What consumer insights have you gained from the feedback and usage trends on the State Farm Latino page?

A: Yes, since our launch of State Farm Latino in April, we have released two applications as part of our Hispanic content strategy.

So far, we are very pleased with the outcome. Both have generated high levels of interaction, which tells us about the diversity of our audience and their varied interests.

Moving forward, it will be key for us to be able to offer a variety of alternatives for our users’ diverse interests.

Q. What questions and commentary do you find resonates best among Latino consumers on Facebook?

A: Upon visiting State Farm Latino, visitors will find our voice is about “passion” and our passion is about “people”. Given that State Farm Latino has just two months of consumer engagement activity, it’s still too early for us to determine if there is a specific trend or pattern that may be developing and resonating.

However, if we take a microscopic look at the conversations since this past April, the bulk of the online activity revolves around the topics of music, family and culture.

Q: How does this fit into the overall Hispanic and digital marketing strategy? And into the consumer 360 degree experience? For example, how do your agents fit into the social media equation?

A: State Farm Latino allows for conversations to happen organically, in real-time and in the language of our customer’s choice.

Throughout the calendar year, State Farm Latino will use this platform as a way to promote some of the company’s existing marketing assets like the Gold Cup, and the Latin Billboards to name a few. In addition to this, this page will also serve as a conduit of information in times of a natural disaster as well as a public affairs tool to engage Latino participation and engagement.

For our agents, the same holds true. Additionally, many of our agents have also begun to launch their own individual agent Facebook pages so that they better engage with both new and existing customers in their hometown.

Q: What recommendations do you have for other marketers launching a branded Facebook page?

A: The best advice we could give a fellow brand looking to establish a Facebook page is to “find your voice and your passion” first and foremost. Once you have established this, remember the key to a successful relationship is to listen twice as much as you speak, and keep the conversation engaging, culturally relevant, in-language, and above all, genuine.