A group of Albertville, Alabama’s Hispanic residents wants the city to require all business signs be in English and Spanish. Their proposed ordinance comes in response to Mayor Lindsey Lyons’ plans to require Spanish-language signs have an English translation. “We think it’s a chance for Albertville to become a city of the future,” said Anita Stancil, a member of La Voz de la Comunidad, or the Voice of the Community. The mayor said he was not in favor of the idea. Lyons drafted a nine-month plan of things he wants the city to accomplish through the end of his first full year in office. Among the items is an ordinance that includes the appearance of signs. The mayor wants “sign professionalism” that prohibits hand-made or homemade signage and suggested a three-person committee that would have to approve new signs. He also cited “public safety” issues in saying the city should require English to be part of signs.
Aylene Sepulveda, a member of La Voz and an outspoken presence at City Council meetings and in a series of cultural blending meetings, said in a statement released by her group that its proposal “is our way of showing the mayor and council that the Hispanic community of Albertville supports improving the looks of business signs.” She said the group agrees with Lyons’ proposals on regulating the size and appearance of signs. “We want to see the same improvements the mayor has outlined, but we want to see them happen in an equal way,” Stancil said. “The Spanish-speaking businesses can change signs and so can the English-speaking businesses so that everybody understands and so everybody can come together as one Albertville.”
Lyons, however, said he was “disappointed” by the proposal. “In 1990, Alabama passed Amendment 509 declaring English as the official language of the state,” he said. “I totally support this amendment.” He disagreed with Sepulveda’s statement that the La Voz proposal would unite Albertville. “The approach that Aylene’s proposing is not pulling the community together,” Lyons said. “In fact, it’s totally divisive.”
Lyons said he spoke with three council members Friday morning at a ribbon cutting ceremony for a business that renovated its downtown store.“I felt no support whatsoever from them toward Aylene’s proposal,” he said. “None at all.”
Welcome sign with barbed wire security fence in background extends inviting greeting to residents and visitors entering the city.
We came across this story that was published in early April in Oregon’s the Washington County News. It seems that the Oregon Department of Justice filed a settlement that prevents a woman who owned a Beaverton (Oregon) based business from offering fraudulent translation and legal services.
State officials say the woman, who operated Access to the System LLC, advertised translation services in a Spanish business directory and accepted money to complete divorce legal forms. Although having no legal certification, Spanish speakers who paid the company believed it had the authority to represent them in their legal matters, according to the Department of Justice.
The business no longer operates. The settlement also requires the company to pay a total of $2,000 in restitution to two victims. Earlier this year, a Washington County judge entered a judgment against the business owner involving similar allegations that it victimized a Spanish speaker by misrepresenting translation services as legal services in connection with a divorce filing, according to the Justice Department.
Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernard Madoff recently announced plans for starting a translation business upon his release from prison in 2045. Madoff is currently evaluating the relative merits of single- versus multi-language business models.
Here’s a story from the Miami Herald. It seems that recently when one Miami-area customer went to check out Comcast’s rates for internet service on their site in English and then in Spanish he was presented with two different deals. English-speaking costumers could get 12 Mbps (megabits per second) service for $42.95 per month or 16 Mbps for $52.95, while Spanish-speaking customers were presented with an offer of $42.95 for 6 Mbps, or $52.95 for 8 Mbps.
Comcast promised to get to the bottom of it, but when contacted, they were still waiting to hear back on an official explanation from higher-ups.
Webmaster Harvey P. Pedigrew III expressed shock at all the hullabaloo. “I mean jeez come on guys … it’s just a few keystrokes we’re talking about here. What’s an Mbps anyway? Do people really want more of them?”
In test marketing this video we found that many viewers experience a sudden and compelling desire to engage us for Spanish translation services, to conduct search engine marketing in English and/or Spanish, or to recruit bilingual employees (strangely, independent of whether the services are actually needed).
Over the past year our company has continued to evolve in some interesting and unanticipated ways. Since our inception we’ve made a conscious effort to chart a course that’s a little different from that of more traditional language services companies. And, well, we think we’ve done that. In our view there’s no other company quite like us.
Our activity in areas where the Spanish language overlaps with defined business categories like search engine marketing, human resources, international business and communication ensures a unique market position for Affinity Spanish. Of course we hope our unique position will continue to be a valued one.
That said our primary service categories for the foreseeable future into 2008 are:
Each of the above service categories are linked to pages that describe them in more detail.
Thanks go out to all our current customers for your loyal patronage in 2007. We extend our holiday best wishes to each of you, and look forward to helping support your business objectives in the coming year.
