May is Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month

A celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Much like Black History and Women's History celebrations, APA Heritage Month originated in a congressional bill. On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a Joint Resolution designating the annual celebration.

In May 1990, the holiday was expanded further when the first President Bush designated May to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is celebrated with community festivals, government- sponsored activities, and educational activities for students. This year's theme is "Lighting the Past, Present, and Future."

How can you learn more about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month? Just "Google" it.

Listed first in Google is the very popular and useful website, InfoPlease.com.

There you will find:

• Mini-bios of notable Asian Americans-including actresses, politicians, writers, athletes, architects, film directors, musicians, and an astronaut.
• A timeline of Asian-American History-starting in the 1600's when the Spanish brought Chinese and Filipinos to Mexico.
• The histories of Tea, Fortune Cookies, Chopsticks & Feng Shui.
• Look for "13 Feng Shui Tips", and much more.

See this U.S. Census Page for 2007

And this press release from the White House

Are your Spanish-speaking customers happy with your service?

How do you know?

It's easy for English-speaking customers to let you know when there's a problem. They just call, write or walk in your door.

This study proves there's a big difference...

...between how English- and Spanish-speaking customers. respond to poor service! How so?

90% of Spanish speakers who had a product or service problem felt rage, meaning they were "extremely or very frustrated" with the problem they faced and how their complaints were handled. By comparison, 70% of English speakers experience rage.

Spanish speakers are three times more likely than English speakers to contact the media or seek revenge through litigation.

Spanish speakers had to spend twice as much time complaining to resolve a problem than did English speakers.

Spanish-speaking consumers would buy significantly more products/services from companies that make it easy to communicate in Spanish.

If you would like an 8-page summary of this study conceived and sponsored by Language Line Services and conducted by Customer Care Measurement & Consulting Group, go to the Hispanic Rage web page and complete the simple form.

You'll have the summary right away.

The value of Language Line Services is our unique mix of the best interpreters, the best organization behind those interpreters, and the very latest technology.

There is no better example of that technology than Your World. Your Language.® our new shopping service for Limited English Proficient (LEP) consumers in California (soon nationwide).

The service appears simple. LEP callers dial a toll-free number and, within seconds, our interpreters help connect them with banking, insurance, telephone, Internet, utility and other vital business services in their native languages.

However, according Tom Sterns, our Director of Advanced Technology Development, the technology we needed was anything but simple.

"As the acknowledged leader in interpretive services, we must continue to provide the highest quality at the lowest cost, without becoming a commodity", says Tom. "This means maximizing our productivity by connecting our clients to interpreters as quickly as possible

So, to meet an aggressive launch date for Your World. Your Language.® we hired Avaya (www.Avaya.com).

And, after only six months, Your World. Your Language.® is already proving to be a blessing, not just to LEP consumers, but to our clients as well.

AT&T, which uses Your World. Your Language.® to sell cellular, residential and Internet products, credits our service with helping it achieve a phenomenal 57% close rate.

When Tom Sterns says, "Our goal is to make the connection in 12 seconds or less, every time, every day", that goal clearly equates to a great new service for LEP consumers, and increased revenue for our business partners. Thanks Avaya!

To learn more go to Your World. Your Language.®

Click here for a case study on how Avaya's technology helps make Your World. Your Language® possible.

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