During Hispanic Heritage Month, observed nationwide from September 15 to October 15, Conexión Américas and our sponsors celebrate the presence, contributions and rich cultural heritage of Latinos in the United States and in Tennessee.

'My Latino Roots, My American Dream' Essay Contest
Deadline to Submit Entry: September 15

Conexión Américas invites high school students in Middle Tennessee to participate in the third annual Young Latino Writers' Essay Contest. The top three winners will be recognized during our September 24th celebration. First place wins a laptop!
For contest guidelines and details, click here. 

Orgullo Hispano Award Recognizing Unsung Heroes
Deadline to Submit Nominations: September 15

Help us find three Latino adults or young people who have been persistently but quietly working to better their immediate community –neighborhood, school, workplace, nonprofit or civic organization. They will be honored during our September 24th celebration.
For nomination form and guidelines, click here.

Is fear of foreign cultures stopping you from expanding your business internationally?  A survey recently conducted by UPS found that one-third of the small businesses that responded said language and cultural issues were the main barriers to going global.

Businessweek has some tips that will help you start developing business relationships overseas. The tips are from the president of UPS's international division and many are lessons he learned from his own mistakes. As he explains, "Ninety-six percent of the world's consumers live outside the U.S., so failing to export today may mean you'll have to play catch-up later."

Both interpreters and translators fill necessary roles in today's global economy. They facilitate cross-cultural communication by transposing one language into another.

Quality translators and interpreters do more than just translate words, they convey meaning and concepts into another language and culture. As such, quality translators and interpreters are not only bilingual, they are also culturally literate when it comes to the languages/cultures they are translating between. To this end, many translators and interpreters have spent extended periods of time in other countries learning not only other languages, but also the cultures that correspond to them. Moreover, they are knowledgeable in a variety of subject matters and possess a wide and sometimes very specialized vocabulary in both languages depending on the type of translation or interpreting they do.

Read more of this article from jobmonkey.com (and see where Janine Libbey is quoted) here.

Read it in The Phoenix Business Journal

Chase has announced that almost 400,000 of the bank’s customers want to receive their monthly checking and savings account statements in Spanish. 

This is a great way to create and strengthen customer loyalty.  Will other banks follow Chase's lead?

Cinephiles hate dubbing because it deprives them of the full range of an actor's performance.  Actors with distinctive voices - think James Stewart - may be dubbed by voice over artists who sound nothing like them.  Audiences at a dubbed movie will have a different experience than those who hear the original voices, although many people say anything is better than having to read subtitles.

Dubbing is taking off in the Middle East for a very simple reason: over 70 milllion people can't read so subtitles don't work.  You can learn more about the dubbing industry there at The Christian Science Monitor.

Would you rather watch a movie that is dubbed or subtitled?