news+
One Individual, Two Identities: Frame Switching Among Biculturals
Source: Journal of Consumer Research by David Luna, Torsten Ringberg, and Laura A. Peracchio
Are You A Different Person When You Speak A Different Language?
Research reveals that people who are bicultural and speak two languages may actually shift their personalities when they switch from one language to another.
According to the authors of a recently published study in the Journal of Consumer Research, David Luna, Torsten Ringberg, and Laura A. Peracchio, "Language can be a cue that activates different culture-specific frames." They studied groups of Hispanic women, all of whom were bilingual, but with varying degrees of cultural identification. They found significant levels of "frame-shifting" (changes in self perception) in bicultural participants—those who participate in both Latino and Anglo culture. While frame-shifting has been studied before, the new research found that biculturals switched frames more quickly and easily than bilingual monoculturals.
The authors found that the women classified themselves as more assertive when they spoke Spanish than when they spoke English. They also had significantly different perceptions of women in ads when the ads were in Spanish versus English. "In the Spanish-language sessions, informants perceived females as more self-sufficient and extroverted," write the authors.
In one of the studies, a group of bilingual U.S. Hispanic women viewed ads that featured women in different scenarios. The participants saw the ads in one language (English or Spanish) and then, six months later, they viewed the same ads in the other language. Their perceptions of themselves and the women in the ads shifted depending on the language. "One respondent, for example, saw an ad's main character as a risk-taking, independent woman in the Spanish version of the ad, but as a hopeless, lonely, confused woman in the English version," write the authors.
The shift in perception seems to happen unconsciously, and may have broad implications for consumer behavior and political choices among biculturals.
Organic China
China's emerging middle class is going organic. Touted not only as healthier alternative to conventional produce, organic produce is the new luxury item for China's middle class.
Is Cuba The Next Emerging Market?
Since he succeeded his ailing 81-year-old brother in February, Raul Castro has dropped rules that barred ordinary Cubans from staying in luxury hotels or from buying cellphones, computers and coveted kitchen appliances. Recently Cuba says it will begin issuing licenses to operate private taxis for the first time since 1999. With the loosening of these and other restrictions is Cuba the next emerging market?
China Sichuan Earthquake
Moving Target Research Group extends our deepest sympathies to those affected by the earthquake in Sichuan province. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families in Chengdu and other affected areas.
On 12 May 2008 a major earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale jolted Wenchuan County, Aba Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Latest figures released by the authorities indicate that as many or more than 29,000 people have died and more than 20,000 were injured. Local branches of the Red Cross Society of China are providing emergency relief assistance. Learn more
Click on the links below if you would like to make an online donation to the relief efforts in China or Myanmar.
Via the American Red Cross
Via the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(China's local Red Cross Organization).
China's Rising Middle Class
As the US economy struggles with the current fallout and challenges, China’s rising middle class is driving double digit growth in retail spending. In 2007, China saw a 17 percent growth in its retail market, but this segment is not the marketer's traditional definition of "middle class" but China's youth!
According to Shaun Rein of China Market Research Group (CMR), in-depth interviews with 500 Chinese between the ages of 22 and 32 in 10 cities to gauge whether fears of a global slowdown would influence their shopping habits. The answer was a resounding no. A full 90% of interviewees said they expected to "spend considerably more" in 2008 than they did in 2007, and the vast majority was "very optimistic" about salary potential in the next two years, with the majority expecting salary increases of 10% to 25% in next year. Continue reading...
The Green Dragon
China is looking to urbanize 400 million people in the next twelve to twenty years and the World Bank estimates that between now and 2015 roughly half of the world's new building construction will take place in China. After twenty years of unchecked development, what are the barriers and opportunities for China to 'go green'?
In 2007, three young people - one Chinese, one American and one English - traveled to China to investigate common misconceptions about the potential for mass-scale sustainable construction there. Over 65 people were interviewed and filmed in 9 cities within 9 weeks. The results of this trip are both eye-opening and inspiring. Watch the trailer below or visit Green Dragon Media Project.
China's 'Sea Turtles' Return Home
Source: Maureen Fan, Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Huang He, 36, is a "sea turtle," one of the thousands of students who return to China each year after spending time abroad. For many of them, a visit to their family villages during the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, is near mandatory. But such visits also force them to confront changes in modern China -- changes that may prompt them to swim away again.
But the China those students return to is not always the China they left. The phenomenal economic growth here has led not only to the development of villages and towns, but to a shift in Chinese values and priorities. Meanwhile, the sea turtles have experienced changes of their own.
After a decade studying communications, broadcasting and cinematic arts at Shenandoah University in Northern Virginia and Central Michigan University, Huang is a faithful mimic of President Bush, a regular viewer of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," a fan of the Green Bay Packers and a lover of steak. But he is also a citizen of China who misses his hometown dishes and his aging parents.
Fluent in two cultures, he is not quite at home in either.
"After living in the U.S. for so long, all sea turtles have to relearn their own culture," said Huang, who has been working in Beijing for a company that makes historical television dramas. "China is not the same China I remember. People's values have changed."
Continue reading...
The New Transculturals in China
Chinese or American? The new transculturals or "haiguis" struggle to define their identity. Watch as the Hard Hat Show looks at three Chinese twenty-somethings who were born in Mainland China but went abroad at a young age. They have since returned and now live in Beijing where they were interviewed about how it feels to be back home.
Written and directed by Luke Mines of Danwei TV
"Guatemexicoestadounidenses or Guatemexiamericans"
Source: AZCentral.com
December 12, 2007
Growing numbers of Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants are marrying and having U.S.-born children, creating mixed Latino families with ties to three countries at once.
The mixture has become so common in Phoenix, some community members have even coined a name "Guatemexicoestadounidenses," or Guatemexiamericans, to describe the families.
The trend is being driven by an influx of immigrants from Central America, mainly Guatemala, who are settling in communities long dominated by Mexican immigrants, experts say. Although no specific data exists about the number of mixed Latino marriages, the trend is undeniable. As more Central Americans arrive, the more they meet and marry Mexicans.
"There is a great mixing taking place," said Nestor Rodriguez, a sociologist at the University of Houston who studies immigration trends. Latinos, he said, are becoming like other Americans with European ancestry, with ties not to a single nationality but many, continue reading...
Saying ‘Adios’ To Spanglish
Source: Newsweek.com
December 17, 2007
Leticia Salais writes " Growing up, I wanted nothing to do with my heritage. My kids made me see how wrong that was. Growing up in the poorest neighborhoods of El Paso, Texas, I did everything I could to escape the poverty and the color of my skin. I ran around with kids from the west side of town who came from more-affluent families and usually didn't speak a word of Spanish. I spoke Spanish well enough, but I pretended not to understand it and would not speak a word of it. In school, I refused to speak Spanish even with my Hispanic friends. I wanted nothing to do with it. While they joined Chicano clubs, all I wanted to do was be in the English literacy club. Even at home, the only person to whom I spoke Spanish was my mom, and that's only because she wouldn't have understood me otherwise." Continue reading...
Spanglish: Mi Vida Remixed takes an in-depth look at Spanglish
Source: mun2.com
April 21, 2007
New generations of Latino youth are using Spanish and English to create their own unique form of language, culture, style and influence. From the spoken word scene in the Bronx, to school and sport in Miami, to bordertown life for teens in Texas, mun2 explores how Spanglish has emerged and continues to shape young Latinos and pop culture. The special features interviews with teens and celebrities who collectively speak to the way language defines them across generations, regions and cultures.
Research Without Borders; Understand Tomorrow’s Markets Today™