Beginning this week, First Tennessee bank officials will launch two components of their Hispanic initiative which recognizes and supports the growing population in Chattanooga. The first provides professional Spanish language instruction to bank employees.

Stacy Johnson, Director of Hispanic Relations for First Tennessee, stated, “The Spanish language program will be of great benefit to Spanish speakers living in our area by helping to narrow the language barrier that is so prevalent.” Ultimately, their hope is to better serve this population’s important financial needs, officials said.

Classes are offered three times a week and are free of charge to the bank’s employees. To date, 45 are enrolled in the program. The class will be offered in the Cleveland area as well.

The second initiative being launched is a curriculum geared to Spanish speakers throughout Hamilton County in partnership with READ Chattanooga, Tennessee’s oldest adult educational program. The class, known as Money Matters, is a financial literacy program designed in conjunction with the FDIC, whose purpose is to teach people the benefits of utilizing banking institutions. The most fundamental benefit is to protect a family’s financial assets, in addition to their overall security.

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Common Sense Advisory, an independent research and consulting firm, announces the release of its fourth-quarter Global Business Confidence Surveyâ„¢ results for the translation services industry. The surveys polled buyers and suppliers of language services and technology about their current business situation, plans, and expectations for the near future.

The supply-side report, “Global Business Confidence Survey: Supplier Q4-2004,” is the third in a series of quarterly polls into the attitude and plans of language service and technology providers. It compares the results of all three surveys to chart changes in business confidence over the last nine months. Common Sense Advisory has begun to cross-tabulate its results with those of the U.S. Department of Commerce and other national and international agencies reporting on the general economy.

The buy-side report, “Global Business Confidence Survey: Buyer Q4-2004,” is the first in a series of parallel reports on the corporate and government demand for language services.

As with its supply-side research, Common Sense Advisory will conduct this survey every quarter, compare results, and comment on the changing attitudes.

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Newgen Software said it has developed a Chinese version of its software product on document management and workflow to enter the Chinese market.

Newgen has become the first Indian company to develop a Unicode Chinese version of a software product, a company release said.

China is strategic to Newgen’s business. By developing Unicode Chinese version, Newgen has shown its commitment to the Chinese market”, Diwakar Nigam, MD, Newgen Software said.

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Admiral Online today announced the release of its new 3.1c version of DictoMail Intelligent Messaging Technology. DictoMail instantly translates voicemail messages into readable text for viewing on cellphones, smartphones, BlackBerrys, and desktop email systems. It requires no software installation on the user device or PC. The technology is now broadly available to the public at www.DictoMail.com in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

DictoMail was originally conceived as a business tool for commercial real estate professionals who are frequently away from their desks or in noisy places where listening to voicemail is difficult. Using DictoMail, they found that they could read their voicemail messages far more quickly than listening to them. The service also enabled them to scroll through and look at messages instantly, then return the most important calls first. Since caller ID is captured with every message, DictoMail eliminated the need to write down telephone numbers.

Today consultants, hospitality executives, attorneys, contractors, IT professionals and finance executives use DictoMail. “Any professional that receives a high number of voicemail messages throughout the day and is frequently away from their telephone, or on the telephone missing incoming calls, can become more productive with the service,” said Richard Yegan, Founder and Chief Information Officer. “DictoMail is a simple concept but it’s changing how busy professionals are doing their jobs.“

Different user groups have discovered different benefits of the service. For example, attorneys can now discreetly check incoming voicemail by reading their DictoMail on laptop monitors or smartphone screens amid court proceedings. Executives can check incoming voicemail on their desktops while engaging in conference calls. International travelers, on overseas trips, can check voicemail on their computers without incurring international telephone fees. Business owners can use the service to capture voicemails as emails for incoming prospect calls. The emails can then be archived, sorted and data-mined at a later date.

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Milka Duno, the first Hispanic woman to achieve a win in a major North American sports car race, is coming to Chicago. She will meet the press during a special breakfast in the Pontiac display area from 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. before the Chicago Auto Show opens to the public for “Women’s Day” on February 15, 2005. A public autograph session is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. in the Pontiac display area.

Duno’s qualities and achievements as a successful female in the male dominated sport of racing are not the only traits that drew Pontiac to her. A naval engineer, she speaks three languages and has four masters degrees ( earning the last three simultaneously ) that she obtained in Venezuela and Spain. “Milka’s educational background and pursuit of action and performance are attractive credentials,” said Mark-Hans Richer, Pontiac marketing director. “Her independence and achievements provide a positive and engaging role model for women and Hispanics alike.”

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Recently, genetic scientists have determined that in the 6 billion rungs of the DNA ladder that make up the nucleus of the human cell, there is less than .02% difference between one race and another. There may be many cultures, tribes, nations, languages and peoples, but apparently one common ancestry for us all.

Because many real estate firms hire people from a variety of different cultures, miscommunication and misunderstanding can easily occur. Such miscues can lead to stress, frustration and anxiety that in turn can negatively impact performance, relationships and teamwork. Understanding the communication styles and cultures of the global workforce can open new gateways to successful cross-cultural communication. This 5 Point Plan, taken from The Success Series http://www.iSucceed.com hopes to show that being a child of the new modern world often requires being open to different international perspectives.

1. Finding Common Interests.
2. Appreciating Different Values.
3. Having Empathy.
4. Being Understanding.
5. Being Patient.

It may feel like a complex, confused journey of a thousand miles and a thousand cultures. Yet it all begins with small steps. Orison Swett Marden once said, “The universe is one great kindergarten for man.” So, have fun, learn to tune down your haste, bury your frustration, wash away your pre-conceived opinions and open your mind to variety and new friendships.

Acknowledgement
This article is part of “The Success Series” by Stefan Swanepoel: author of 10 books and whitepapers and a celebrated speaker to more than 250,000 people on five continents. Stefan is CEO of iSucceed, Inc., the nation’s largest online mentoring and coaching company in the real estate industry with over 175 mentors and 300+ hours of material. For a free trial, visit http://www.iSucceed.com and use the promo code RISMedia.

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Common Sense Advisory, Inc., an independent research and consulting firm, has released the second in a series of reports on publicly traded language service companies. The report, “SDL 2005: Challenges and Opportunities,” provides a business assessment of UK-based SDL International (SDL), a provider of translation services and technology solutions, in the financial and business terms that reflect the company’s importance to the globalization plans of large enterprises. Specifically, the report:
– Analyzes SDL’s business fundamentals
– Assesses its value and performance through valuation methodologies including discounted cash flow and relative valuations.
– Provides SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis in the context of the language services market landscape and company details
– Discusses strategies that could enhance shareholder and customer value
– Provides an in-depth look at the globalization market dynamics and buying trends

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A new Finnish translation of William Shakespeare’s Sonnets appeared on Monday under the title Nautintojen ajan aarre (The name is taken from the line “Where all the treasure of thy lusty days” in Sonnet II). The translation is the work of author and scholar Kirsti Simonsuuri, and the volume has been published by Yliopistopaino.

The process of translation took a total of around five years, but Simonsuuri had other research work and some fictional writing going on at the same time, as well as teaching duties at Helsinki University, in England, and in Holland.

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Marketing guru Fernando Espuelas made his name pioneering the Internet in Spanish and Portuguese. He was the first to take a Latin American Internet company public on Wall Street, Star Media Networks Inc., and personally lost $500 million when the dot-com bubble burst — even as the Internet still blossoms in Latin America.

Now, the Uruguay-born executive who Time magazine called one of the “Leaders of the Millennium” is targeting another linguistic market often overlooked: U.S. Hispanics comfortable in English.

Espuelas is launching Voy, a New York-based company developing a brand of Hispanic-relevant books, TV, music and movies in English, the language of millions of Latinos raised in the United States and tens of millions more Americans who enjoy Latin culture…

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Miguel Hernandez makes just $7 an hour, but the Waukegan factory worker and other Mexican immigrants have been wooed relentlessly in recent years by the nation’s richest and largest banks, who see a growing, almost untapped market.

On Thursday the competition will intensify when Bank of America rolls out a program that allows immigrants to send money to Mexico without paying any fees, believed to be a first among major banks.

The program will begin in Chicago and spread to other cities later this year.

Although the free service is limited–to qualify, senders must hold checking accounts at the bank and recipients can pick up the money only at certain Mexican banks or ATMs–financial regulators say the decision is a milestone.

Michael Frias, who works with 37 Midwest banks and Mexican government officials to promote financial access for immigrants, said he knows of no other banks that offer money transfers without fees.

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Meredith Corporation is launching a lifestyle and shelter publication targeted to Hispanic women. The bi-monthly, ¡Siempre Mujer! will debut this fall with an initial rate base of 350,000.

Meredith has mentioned previously that it intended to go after the Hispanic marketplace, although entering the home category specifically is something of a surprise. In justifying its decision, the company cited data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which indicates that within the next decade, one in five new homeowners will be Hispanic.

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Ever wondered what “Mitsubishi” means when written out in Japanese? Or maybe you’ve pondered over exactly how “Sanyo” came to be known as Sanyo*. What does the “shiba” in “Toshiba” mean? In this article, we dive deep into the corporate names of seven of the world’s most well-known electronics companies:

* FujiFilm
* Fujitsu
* Hitachi
* Panasonic
* Mitsubishi
* Sanyo
* Toshiba

Inside, we investigate two main areas for each company: what the characters that compose their names actually mean, and how the companies actually got their names.

Hint: The founder’s name isn’t “Mr. Sanyo.” In fact, o­nly o­ne company out of the seven listed above still uses their founder’s name as their official corporation name.

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Hat tip: Blogos