Job and Safety Training

     Explore practical strategies with your managers and supervisors to manage these new challenges in your workplace.  In a seminar tailored to meet your needs, look at how these issues impact communication and safety, and study the differences between the Hispanic culture and our own.  Experts say understanding cultural differences is 40% of the communication process.

• Enable your English speakers to communicate more effectively with Spanish speakers.
• Improve employee morale and decrease tension that may adversely impact productivity and retention rates.
• Study the training needs of employees whose native language is not English.
• Provide your bilingual employees with the tools they need to be effective, confidential interpreters.
• Capitalize on your Hispanic employees' predisposition to teamwork by clearly explaining how each job task affects the goals of your organization.

     Increases in productivity and  job satisfaction and reductions in employee turnover are natural results of  improved communication.

Test your sensitivity to cultural differences with the following true or false questions. Then, compare your responses with those below.
   

1. Gestures and body language are effective means of communicating with people who are not fluent in English.
   
   
2. A Notary Public in Latin American countries performs the same services as a Notary Public in the United States.
   
   
3. English is the official language of the United States.
   
   
4. In many cultures, people are not accustomed to spelling out loud.
   
   
5. In most Hispanic cultures, people view time much like you do.
   
   
6. Questions that can be answered with a "yes" or "no", or with a nod of the head are not good forms of communication to use with non-English speaking employees.
   
   
7. People from the United States are the only Americans.
   
   

1.   False   Gestures and body language are like the spoken language. They mean different things in different places. Unless you are sure, think twice about using too many hand signals. A smile, however, is the same universally.

2.   False   In some Latin American countries, the term used for a notary public "notario público" refers to an attorney.

3.   False   The United States does not have an official language. Years ago, the topic came up before Congress, but they could not decide whether the national language should be English or German, so they took no action at all.

4.   True   Children practicing their spelling words and having a weekly quiz is an integral part of our educational system. Did you know that was cultural?  Many people have a hard time spelling out loud, even if they are quite proficient in English, because this is not how they learned to spell.

5.   False   We live in a very fast paced world, and our culture here in the United States often takes that pace up even a notch higher. We have lists of what we want to do and target dates for when they should be accomplished. Many of our stores are open 24 hours a day. In Latino cultures, schedules and meetings are not of primary importance - people are.

6.   True   Because we want to be understood, we often resort to this line of communication even though it may give us the false impression that someone understands. Many times someone who speaks little or no English will nod or say "yes" because they recognize you are addressing them, not because they agree with you. They may have no idea what you said.

7.   False   Central Americans and South Americans are, of course, Americans as well.