Katie Hedrick is the Community Inclusion Coordinator of the City of Roanoke’s Community Engagement department in Virginia. One of her responsibilities is to run a Bilingual Incentive Pay Program to address the concerns and needs of Roanoke’s diverse 100,000 residents. Katie successfully implemented the program across all departments, and to date, many of the city […]
Continue readingHow to Test for Language Proficiency in Your Hiring Process
Understanding how to determine language proficiency during the hiring process is essential. Language proficiency testing provides accurate results employers can rely on. Administering a language proficiency test for employment purposes ensures businesses and corporations hire the best candidates for open positions. Test Prospective Employee Language Skills
Continue readingLocal Governments Build Trust and Ensure Safer Communities with a Multilingual Workforce
The current global and culturally diverse economy in which the United States is immersed has created more awareness regarding the importance of having a multilingual and multicultural workforce in most industries and organizations, including in the governmental sector.
Continue readingFluency vs Proficiency
Everyone is on a language journey. You’re involved with some form of communication every day, whether you’re speaking, listening, reading, or writing. If you’re multilingual or studying a world language, then you have even more paths on your language journey. Get Certified Today As you grow in your first language and other world languages, you’ll want […]
Continue readingLanguage: A Critical Skill to Responsibly Connect with the People You Serve
The demand for multilingual talent in the United States keeps growing across all industries, and the nonprofit sector is not an exception. If you are in a leadership position within a nonprofit organization, it is imperative to be aware that there is a high probability that your organization is engaging with people with low English […]
Continue readingMultiple Languages Better Serve Communities in Need
Nonprofit organizations are created to improve the lives of people in need. These organizations complement different aspects of society using their available resources either in health, education, or the arts to promote the social and economic development of all residents within a community. According to the National Council of Nonprofits, individuals who conduct or support […]
Continue readingThe Effects of Linguistic Relativity on a Speaker’s Perception
Starting at the beginning of the twentieth century, researchers in the field of linguistic anthropology, notably Franz Boas and Edward Sapir, conducted experiments to try and determine what effect, if any, language has on a person’s perception. Though those initial studies have been hotly contested, the groundwork was laid, and we have made great strides […]
Continue readingNon-Clinical Job Opportunities in Healthcare for Bilingual Talent
When we think about job opportunities in healthcare, what automatically comes to mind are doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and pharmacists. However, while hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies, and caregiving facilities are primarily seen as avenues for careers in clinical medicine, they also have a plethora of talent recruitment needs that are non-clinical. And just like […]
Continue readingThe 2020 Census and Language Proficiency for Patient-Centered Care
I recall when I began my career over two decades ago in Hispanic media in New York City working for large publishing houses on national Spanish-language magazines like People en español, Glamour en español, Vogue en español, and a series of other Latino-specific print offerings. Back in 2000 we tried our darndest to persuade big […]
Continue readingEliminating Language Barriers in the Educational System
How important is it to have multilingual employees in different departments at schools and higher education institutions in the United States? The educational system in the U.S. is continuously receiving non-English-speaking students from different cultural backgrounds. Statista Data reflects that about 22.6 percent of school children did not speak English at home in 2019, and […]
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