The face of Canada has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. So has ethnic marketing. Statistics Canada reports more than 200 ethnicities are now represented in this country. Immigration accounts for more than 50% of our population’s growth, and will more than likely double by 2025. Entrepreneurs should be pitching the product and service to ethnic markets, if not, your competitors will. On the whole, ethnic markets can represent growth, untapped market segments, and increased profitability.

It has been difficult for companies to find successful ways to target to the various ethnic groups found in Canada. The United Way of Greater Toronto fundraising initiatives city wide in 2000 proved dismal to the diverse multicultural groups within the city. Six years ago fundraising efforts raised anywhere from $20,000 – $25,000 from seven or eight communities. Three prominent groups were targeted instead and last year raised about $700,000 – a 300% increase within a six-year period.

Companies actually hire directors of ethnic markets now, and the message is about communicating to the changing Canadian market, the most effective ways to incorporate a more diverse approach to market your brand.

Today’s consumers are far more sophisticated, have better educations, and have increased spending power than the immigrants of years gone by. Marketers understand the ethnicity of their customers, embrace their customs, and tap into their sensitivities.

Ethnicity is a multidimensional expression of identity that includes race, origin or ancestry, language or religion. Influenced by variables: immigration, blending, and intermarriage, which very often create a strength of ethnic identification. Often associated with a culture are customs and beliefs and sometimes dress and eating habits. A survey conducted in 2002 by Statistics Canada regarding ethnic diversity reveals that three-quarters of Canadians say they are interested in learning more about their ancestry and are familiar with their heritage.

Solutions Research Group conducted a study that examined six major population groups in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. The study included Canadians of Chinese, South Asian, West Asian, Hispanic, Black and Italian backgrounds. A total of 3,000 respondents (age 15+) were interviewed in 9 languages: English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish and Italian. The results were astonishing: among the most vital of media is the Internet with 88% usage. Chinese Canadians are active users spending 2.4 hours/day, followed by TV then radio. Although less time is spent watching TV, ethnic Canadians are more likely than the market benchmark to have digital cable or satellite TV (41% vs. 39%). Black and Chinese Canadians lead on this measure (47% and 44%, respectively).

More than half (52%) of the ethnic groups surveyed agree with the statement: “I rarely see advertising messages intended for me,” suggesting a significant lost opportunity. The trick is to go beyond the status quo, to dig deeper, and the solutions will be found.

Pay attention to the three C’s: caution, care and commitment.

Caution

An ethnic market is really comprised of dozens of smaller, distinct segments. What sells in the Southeast Asian community may not sell to the Chinese community. If referring to China, do you target Hong Kong or Taiwan? Marketers must learn to identify communities and focus directly on those. Ethnic identity has little to do with how people buy gas and car repairs. However, it has plenty to do with which groceries or books they buy.

Care

Decisions should be made to pursue different ethnic communities, and along side comes the care that should be taken to learn about them. The size of the market is considered and how you, the marketer, are going to capture it. Direct marketing techniques are the best means for personalizing your message. Companies may already own the information needed to determine the approach.

Example: Financial institutions know where their clients send money. Companies that capture this kind of data (through data mining) can use it to tailor their product and services to the consumer.

Purchase subscriber lists to ethnic newspapers or membership rolls of ethnic associations. Determining your target audience becomes easy, the next task… to craft the marketing materials in the language they understand.

Commitment

A recent survey of 150 marketers found that only 40% did back-end analysis of their direct marketing programs on a consistent basis. The costs associated to discovering this type of information is expensive. What will be your ROI? Companies more and more are jumping on the ethnic bandwagon. Just go to any Wal-Mart Super Centre and view how their food products are representative of the various ethnicities, and how their ways of “giving back” actually enhance the communities they serve. Last year, the Salvation Army received a $100,000 donation from them. After all, their motto “Wal-Mart Canada is committed to making a difference in the lives of Canadians,” once again, rings true.

This article is about exploring some of the reoccurring themes in food from around the world. If you are a foodie, this article may be of general interest to you; but if you are interested in opening your mind and palate to trying some new foods, this is a good starting point. Over the next few weeks, I will post more articles along this theme with specific descriptions and suggestions for trying and cooking different types of international food. Hopefully, looking at it from this perspective will make it less scary to try new things.

Many, many years ago, when the first explorers and migratory people roamed the earth, they observed how and what each other ate. As they moved about, they shared meals, borrowed some ideas, and brought them home to modify to their own tastes and environment. As people’s cultures developed and changed, so did the types of foods they ate.

For example, in North America we love our huge bowls of pasta for dinner, but in Italy it is often just one small component of the whole meal. In some parts of Asia, noodle dishes are often very popular as well. Usually the noodles are made from rice or egg, such as Malaysian mee goreng and Cantonese chow mien, and are often components of soup or fried after boiling.

Rice can be a main meal with vegetables and meat added and steamed right into it, such as Indian Biryani. There’s also fried rice in some of the other Asian countries or yummy beans and rice in Cuba. Rice is often eaten plain as a side dish, or with flavouring added as in North American cooking.

Soups are another variant that extend from clear broths, to rich meaty stews such as Hungarian goulash, Vietnamese noodle soup, or the North American favourites of chili con carne and New England clam chowder.

Breads–where to start? Mmmmmm…..bread. Some of my favourites include Middle Eastern pita bread, Indian naan made in a clay tandoor oven, and Italian focaccia. My friends love my garlic cheese biscuits, similar to a certain popular seafood chain, and my mom’s homemade bread. I don’t own a bread maker, but I know people that swear by these to make all kinds of doughs and baked products.

Vegetables that are eaten in salad or cooked as a side can really vary depending on what is regionally and seasonally available. If you’re interested in trying Thai food, they sometimes include green mango or papaya in salad. In North America people love their many options for greens such as spinach, arugula, sprouts, and different types of lettuce. Options for baking, sauteing, steaming, frying, and grilling vegetables are endless.

Fruit also varies so much from place to place. With the advent of genetic engineering, the appearance, texture and taste of fruits like bananas and tomatoes from country to country are almost limitless. I can taste a huge difference between my garden’s beefsteak tomatoes, and the hothouse tomatoes I buy from the grocery store, that are shipped up from the U.S. in the winter. When traveling to warmer climates, I love to eat fresh mango, papaya, pineapple, pomegranate and guavas. Although they might not be as fresh, you can find some of these fruits at your local grocery stores in North America, buy one and give it a try this week.

Meat has been a popular staple item in some cultures, and a luxury item in other cultures for a long time. Depending on where you live, different meats are very popular; such as pork in China, and goat and lamb in India. There are many popular meats in North America, but certainly beef and chicken are among the most preferred. Meat can be put on a spit and roasted over a fire, baked, grilled in a North American barbecue, cooked in a slow cooker, stir fried, or seafood turned into Japanese sushi or sashami, just to name a few options.

Cheeses are another wonderful creation that vary so much depending on the type of milk, process used to make it, and what is added into them. On a recent trip to the Canary Islands, we enjoyed delicious fried manchego cheese in a moho rojo sauce. While in Indian cooking, the homemade, paneer cheese is very popular. Some of my other favourites include Greek feta, Italian mozzarella balls, and good old North American sharp cheddar.

Hopefully this article has helped to highlight some of the reocurring themes in foods from around the world. The spices, methods of preparation, and local choices may be different, but the food groups are quite similar–and the possibilities are endless.

As promised, I will post more detailed articles in the future about suggestions for eating and cooking new foods, and eventually start posting some recipes. In the meantime, feel free to do a Google search on the names of any of the food mentioned if you’re interested in finding out more about what they are or what’s in them.

Foodies just love to travel to Delhi, the capital of India. The remarkable variety and the abundance of eating options in the city entice many food lovers to carefully research the internet for good eating-out options while planning their Delhi tour and before booking tickets on flights to the city of incredible flavours. While the local fare is undoubtedly more popular among foreign tourists, the country’s eclectic range of global cuisines, which are offered at speciality eateries, finds favour with the most food lovers.

Royal China (Chinese)

Chinese food is pretty popular in India. A number of restaurants claiming to offer the most authentic Chinese fare can be found in malls and other avenues of the city. But for a true treat of the Cantonese dishes, Royal China would be the safest bet. The atmosphere here is relaxed with the interiors flaunting a minimalist modern touch. Tourists who visit the eatery would find the menu to be traditional with few contemporary twists. Try out the lip-smacking dim sum and luscious roast pork and you would actually find it hard to believe that you haven’t booked tickets for flights to China but it is India you are in!

Orient Express (European)

For a true European feel, get a table at Orient Express! That seems to be the mantra of every foreign tourist who gets hold of travel tickets aboard India bound flights arriving in Delhi. It is a relatively small restaurant but the compactness adds to the appeal of the place. Orient Express may not be a cheap option but many who have heard about scrumptious cuisines served here actually look to save money on things like flights, accommodation and sightseeing only to splurge it at Orient Express!

Dum Pukht (Indian)

Surely, it wouldn’t be much of a ‘food trip’ to Delhi, unless there is an elaborate treat of Indian fare! Dum Pukht is a fine venue to treat the taste buds with a fine spread of local dishes. While the ambience of the place has contemporary touches to it, the menu is traditional North Indian. Food enthusiasts who plan India travel and block tickets aboard Delhi flights would surely do themselves a favour by opting for the ever-so delicious kakori kebabs at Dum Pukht. Gravy dishes at the eatery are equally popular and can be tried out by visiting guests.

Wasabi (Japanese)

India is not big on Japanese food but there are venues in Delhi where classy Japanese dining can be experienced! Tourists booking air tickets on flights to Indian capital and who have a penchant for the Japanese age-old favourites like tempura and sushi will definitely love it here at Wasabi. The visual appeal of the eatery and the quintessential Japanese presentation of food please the eyes of all sorts of diners.

First things first: Which Chinese to Learn?

Mandarin is the official language of China and Taiwan. It is the dialect of the majority in Mainland China and the Chinese overseas. Cantonese is not as commonly used since Britain's turnover of Hong Kong to China. It may become a dialect that is used among family and friends.or business purposes, Mandarin is more practical to learn.

Learning Chinese at Home

A great way to start your children in learning the Chinese Language is through Learn Chinese DVDs and videos and audio CDs. These DVDs are specially designed to optimally expose your child to the tones of Chinese with fun things to watch. The learning pace in DVDs are carefully programmed to help your child remember the words and phrases. Chinese songs on CDs on the other hand, are great to use while traveling or during your child's relaxation time. For bigger children, Chinese stories on CDs can be played to expose them further to more Chinese vocabulary and sentence construction.

If one parent speaks Chinese, arrangements can be made that 1 parent will speak to the children in Chinese and the other will speak to them in English. Kids have an amazing ability to keep up with each parent's language.

Exposing Children to Native Chinese Speakers

o Chinese tutors are available to teach children and even the entire family to speak Chinese. Check online or newspaper ads for available tutors.
o Play dates with children who are learning or already know Chinese is a fantastic way to expose your kids.
o Another option is to hire Chinese-speaking baby sitters. Local universities often have students who are half-Chinese or spouses of Chinese. This can be an option you can try.
o Other families get au pairs from China.
o Some families hire Chinese nannies to ensure the children grow up hearing the native Chinese tones. Be careful in the hiring though. Truth to be told, there is a large number of people in the US from China who don't have the necessary papers but are working as nannies. Nannies also take care of your children, so picking the right person is extremely important, especially if they live with you. Friends of ours have gone through multiple nannies and it was not a good experience.

Learning Chinese Online

There are online Chinese programs available for adult English speakers. So far, I am not aware if there are any online programs available for English speaking children.

Chinese Private Schools

Traditionally, non-public Chinese schools teach a child the Chinese language when the child is old enough to sit still and copy characters. Most schools still use the method of rote teaching used in China and Taiwan. Children in the US are very independent, therefore the rote method may not be the best way for children to learn the words and characters. Instead, the Montessori or ESL method may be used to interest the kids to learn Chinese. These methods place emphasis on using Chinese in conversation. Other programs that teach using a lot of singing and other fun activities will definitely make children learn Chinese easier.

Summer Camps

Chinese summer camps expose the child to full immersion of the Chinese language. Summer camps may be a weekend trip in the US, a full boarding school stay, or traveling to live for several weeks to China or Taiwan. There are a few sites that produce the largest list of Chinese summer camps available so stay tuned for updates.

Learn Chinese Materials

There are a lot of products available in the market to help children learn Chinese. Books, videos, audio CDs / cassettes and software can be used at home to learn Chinese. These materials not only expose the child to vocabulary or tones, but also show the beauty of Chinese culture. These materials can also be used for parents and children to spend time together.

Books

A big challenge to teaching Chinese from books is that one parent / adult should know how to read it. For families who are starting to learn from scratch together, bi-lingual books are a big help. Story books that can be read along with audio CDs are useful to learn the proper pronunciation. A great introductory book to reading and writing Chinese characters is Long is the Dragon. For smaller children, I Won't Bite is a very interesting material. Kids will be able to touch and feel the different types of animal skin textures.

Videos

Videos teach through engaging visuals, songs, and repetitive vocabulary. Viewers will also be exposed to how different places and persons look like. In 1 DVD of the Follow Jade series, Teacher Jade goes to a Chinese Kindergarten. Children will be able to compare how their own school and classmates look like. The Bao Bei series has 5 enjoyable videos that teach Chinese vocabulary of a lot of common words. Bao Bei is a panda puppet that children will like to study Chinese words.

Audio CDs

Chinese CDs can be grouped into 2:
o 100% Chinese songs and stories. Some do not have printed guides, others include a book / booklet
o Learn-Chinese CDs specifically designed for those learning Chinese as a second language. These CDs usually include books, booklets with Chinese, English and Pinyin. Songs are sung in both Chinese and English, or booklets show the English translations. For example, the songs in Teach Me Chinese Book and CD are popular and sung in both English and Chinese. Parents can also learn songs to sing for their children, such as Happy Birthday. This series also comes with a Teacher Guide. Other Learn Chinese Book and CD series such as Sing and Learn Chinese Series and Let's Sing Chinese also engages its listeners with interesting songs.

Software

So far, I am still waiting for a very highly recommended software that is easy for learners to use.

Resume writing is a tricky business. On one hand, affording the opportunity to determine precisely the best first impression is invaluable. On the other hand, a single page to make an impression is an anxiety-driven exercise in frustration. [Please do not make your resume multiple pages. Ten years of experience is sufficient and a desired position with have a hundred resumes; you’ll move to the bottom of the pile.] Be disciplined and follow these straightforward tips to get every job you apply for, guaranteed. (Editor’s Note: This publication does not support this guarantee and thinks there are far too many factors to determine anything like this with even remote certainty.)

I will let you in on a few secrets:

1. The perfect resume is unattainable.

2. An attractive resume will not guarantee an interview.

3. Resume writing is, like most endeavors, more Sisyphus than we would like to admit.

Don’t surrender, there are still ways to make it easier and, for secrets one and two, less daunting. As for your own personal boulder, you will have to choose how many times you want to climb the hill…

Relevant work experience coupled with education/training fleshes out a resume very well. Some encourage embellishment to create the veneer of the perfect candidate, but I think it is unnecessary and dishonest. If you don’t speak Cantonese, don’t say you studied the language for four years. Besides, a good hiring manager will see through a facade during the interview and the position will go to someone qualified.

Without a large amount of relevant work experience, a relevant skill set can be emphasized. I have a section of Professional Skills I utilize in my resume. You can point out attributes you possess making you attractive to employers. If you don’t know your professional skills, self-examination is important. You will be asked similar questions in most interviews.

Another focused section to fill out a sparse or meandering resume is a Career Objective. Stating what you are looking for and why at the very top of the page can get right to the point in the way a flashy resume cannot. In addition, the section may be the only complete sentence on your resume. Communication will always be a an envied skill and displaying an ability to write well is a opportunity you would be remiss to pass up.

Having the perfect resume with background and training may still be a hindrance (i.e. Secret #2). The perfect candidate might appear transient and likely to move on to a different position sooner or too expensive for the planned budget of the position. If a hiring manager views you as overqualified, you might be passed over for the interview. This may seem silly, but it happens.

Enthusiasm and a willingness to adopt the policies and procedures of your new company is as valuable if not more valuable than a track record of displaying skills for several places. Youth relies on this truism, but a recent change in fields can offer the same opportunity. Putting yourself out there for the first time or for the first time in a long time takes courage. You showed courage, now take the recognition for it.

If you are looking for a new job or plan to look in the near future, you have not written your resume.

Resumes should be catered to a job (at least a little). The resume you turn in for one company should be altered for the next company and so on and so forth. Downloading the CV or resume templates from Microsoft Word should only serve as a jumping off point. If it was easy to create, it will show and effort matters, especially for the next potential career. If you don’t have time to create a wow-factor resume, you don’t really want a new job. Keep the sections which always impress as your resume evolves and it will be easier to turn on the wow when you need to.

Most of the time, the job description is written by the hiring manager, except in cases of talent pipelining (truly an honorable endeavor and the future of hiring). Knowing this, it is smart to borrow language from the job description and integrate it directly into your resume.

e.g. Seeking a personable teacher, well-versed in Economics with a passion for students.

…

School Mission: We are an equal-opportunity school with a foundation for teachers. We are expanding and seeking a team to grow with us.

Under Professional Skills, you can write: Passionate about education

As a Career Objective, you can right: Seeking a school with a strong foundation and the potential to grow with a team of like-minded teachers.

Simple, direct and subtle psychological tricks that tell the interviewer during the review, you are the type of candidate they should meet with. If you’re thinking I am above embellishment but not above inspiring projection, you’re right. The psychological shifts attention where it belongs – on how amazing you are. The embellishment puts focus on things you wish were you or what you think they want. I, like your mother, believe you are talented and deserve every opportunity to show how capable you are. Now, type to your heart’s content and practice answering interview questions in the mirror. You’re going to be great!

The Wedding Day! 大喜日

Fetching the bride 迎亲

If the bride’s family required a matchmaker 媒婆for the chinese wedding, she will accompany the groom to fetch the bride. The matchmaker, or Best man if there is no matchmaker, will carry a red tray containing a red packet with the bride’s price, a piece of raw pork front leg which is the mother’s reward for bringing up the bride, even number of oranges, dried persimmons, longan, lotus seeds, and magnolia petals (pak hup).

The red tray will be returned with the oranges replaced in even numbers to signify that the newly joined families will share their good fortune. An even numbered portion of the bride’s price will be returned in the red packet. Even numbered cans of pork trotters or a red packet may be used instead of the raw pork leg.

Bride’s younger brother to open the bridal car door 小舅开车门

The groom must not open the car door when he arrives to fetch his bride. The bride’s younger brother will pass him two oranges before opening the door. The two oranges will be left in the bridal car for good fortune. The groom will give this younger brother a red packet after he opens the car door. If the bride has no younger brother, a younger male relative or a younger male friend can play the role.

Kiss the bride! 亲亲新娘

The groom and the brothers’ troop will be served sweet desserts with pink rice ball and snacks at the bride’s home. The groom will enter the bride’s room and lift her veil to kiss her. Taoist couple will pray to the bride’s ancestors and family gods before leaving the bride’s home.

Chinese Wedding Ceremony 过门/拜堂成亲

The chinese were mainly Taoists or ancestor worshipers before foreign religions such as Christianity, Muslim or Buddhism enter China. Taoists believed in the power of heaven and earth to witness important events on earth. It was also believed that a parent or family elder must acknowledge a union for it to be official.

In traditional chinese wedding ceremony the bride and groom will first pray to heaven and earth, then to the groom parents or family elders and lastly bow to each other 一拜天地，二拜高堂，夫妻交拜. The three prayers sealed the marriage. The couple was escorted into the bridal chamber, the equivalent of the bridal room, to consummate their marriage.

Modern chinese wedding skip the ritual of the three prayers. The bride and groom will enter the bridal room directly after entering the groom’s home. Groom’s family members will hide in the house to avoid clashing of fortune with the new couple. After the family members have returned to the family hall, the couple will join them. The Taoist bride and groom will pray to the groom’s ancestors and family gods at this time.

Wedding Tea Ceremony 敬茶

Without the traditional three prayers, the tea ceremony becomes the most significant event in the modern chinese wedding ceremony. The bride and groom are formally introduced to each other’s family through this ceremony.

It will usually take place on the wedding day when most of the family members are present. If some members are not available, supplementary sessions can be conducted at the wedding dinner or at other convenient times and locations.

Sweet tea boiled with dried longan, lotus seeds and red dates are used for the Tea ceremony. The tea ceremony gifts such as red packets or jewellery are presented on the serving plate after drinking the tea.

Bride’s home visit 三朝回门

Traditionally the bride’s home visit is three days after the chinese wedding ceremony. For efficiency, modern chinese wedding usually compressed all the necessary events into a single day.

After the tea ceremony at the groom’s family home, the bride will change out of her western style wedding gown to symbolise passing of three days!

Bride’s younger brother to escort the bride home 小舅伴新娘回门

The bride’s younger brother will arrive at the groom’s home with a wedding basket 油篮 filled with toiletries, perfumed oils and make-up for his sister.

The bridal car will fetch the bride’s younger brother to the groom’s home. The groom will welcome the younger brother by opening the car door for him.

Gifts for the bride’s home visit 回门礼

The bride’s home visit is the couple’s first visit to her parent’s home as a married couple. Other than the gifts for her parents, the couple gives red packets to all the elder members and children in the family.

In the past, many dialect groups required gifts of a pair of sugar cane, at least a pair of live rooster and hen. These带路鸡 “dai lu ji” were supposed to lead the way. The return gift of a rooster and hen will be put under the bridal bed back at the groom’s home. It was believed that the firstborn will be male if the rooster came out first.

To simplify matters most of these gifts are no longer required or are replaced by red packets for modern chinese weddings. Nowadays, only symbolic items are required. Tangerines or mandarin oranges 橘子”Juzi” sounds like good fortune 吉 “Ji” in chinese and must be included as part of the gifts. If tangerines are out of season, oranges can be used instead.

If one of the bride’s parents is cantonese, the roast pig 烧猪is definitely required as part of the gifts for the bride’s home visit. For non-cantonese, sometimes roast pork 烧肉 instead of a whole roast pig is requested.

For teochew, two big red packets of their favorite traditional peanut and sesame candies豆条芝麻条 are usually requested. For hokkiens, combinations of popped rice blocks, or popped rice and sesame rolls, peanut chewy candies, bean paste cookies米方麻佬贡糖豆沙饼 are usually requested.

A portion of all gifts are returned to signify sharing of fortune between the two families.

During the bride’s home visit, a sweet soup with lotus seeds, dried longan, dates and pink rice balls will be served to wish the couple a sweet harmonious marriage.

The modern chinese wedding ceremony is completed after the bride’s home visit. The wedding banquet may be on the same day or another day as it is just an announcement and celebration of the marriage.

The couple and the parents will give red packets to all the helpers at the wedding including beauticians, drivers, bestmen and bridesmaids, matchmaker, photographers, videographers, receptionists and ushers, etc.

Nihongo is a Japanese language spoken by 130 million people in Japan, as well as Japanese immigrant countries. Nihongo is a part of the Japonic language, which has a relationship with a number of other proposed languages. Japanese has a small sound inventory, distinguished by a system of honorifics, which often reflect on the Japanese society. Tokyo is the pronunciation standard in Japan.

The language is written with a combination of three scripts: kanji, hiragana, and katanka. The Latin alphabet, Romanji, is common use for today’s Japanese. It is also used in logos, and computerized Japanese text. Arabic numbers are used for their numeral system, but Sino-Japanese numbers are also used.

Americans use Japanese language in a number of ways. The learning of a new language in a sufficient amount of time can be difficult to do. This is why there are translation services for Americans to use to either comprehend the language for themselves, or to either use for many types of tasks or projects.

A Japanese voice over is a translation from Japanese language to another native language. Over the last 1,500 years, Japanese has been modeled by the Chinese language. Japanese has respectively borrowed a generous number of words from Indo-European languages, with English being one among them.

Wide-ranged Japanese voice over services include: radio and TV commercials, e-learning software, computer games, documentary narrations, virtual presentations, corporate presentations, medical narrations, audio and video training materials, animation, audio books, and web voice overs.

Many Japanese voice over services provide content for many clients. Dubbing, post-production, subtitling, and translation are all offered. Most companies provide a special team of audio engineers, voice-over artists, and directors to get the job done. Major European, Asian, and East Asian languages serve as their specialty. Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Hmong, Thai, Russian, and Vietnamese are just to name a few.

Self-help audio translators are available for independent learners. Kanji is a large part of Japanese life, and is available to learn online through several free dictionaries, where you can look up the correct spellings and pronunciations of the language.You can access the audio files that translate readings and examples, spoken by Japanese-native speakers.

Now a days it has been reported that popular phone networks, such as Android, has created a product catered to Japanese translation. Introduction of this software has come from the Japanese Association of Translators, organized of Japanese translators and interpreters.

With the widening increase of hopefuls crossing the US borders every day, immigration is one issue that never seems to decline. This is putting tremendous pressure on the US border patrol and the dollars spent by the government is taking a toll. Many of the immigrant children and youth cross the border in order to escape the deadly political violence or natural disasters, to escape from civil wars in their countries or even torture. Even with the barriers set up, they still try to overcome all hurdles on the pathways to US citizenship. Immigrant students too enter the US in millions every year, and they face a lot of problems – emotional, financial and social problems in the “land of plenty”.

Adversity encountered by Immigrant youth

Teens face the ultimate hardship that is, they are stuck in two worlds, a world where they are neither fully American nor are fully a part of their own country. Most of these children who arrive do not have any formal education in their own country nor are they able to attend school in the US – due to illegal papers or low English proficiency. Even though they have enrolled in schools, migrant workers are forced to return to their homes, as they are unable to be employed during the winter season. This again affects their children who have been forced to discontinue their studies for several weeks, negatively affecting their attendance.

Limited English learning Immigrant Students

The Urban Institute reports that the number of immigrant children has tripled by 6-20 percent between 1970 and 2000. With this rapid enrollment of immigrant children, the nation’s school strength is estimated to increase by 30 percent. Immigrant youngsters who lack English Proficiency have also increased drastically. A number of Spanish speaking children are being seen with limited English proficiency, followed by Vietnamese, Cantonese and Korean.

Challenges faced by Limited English Learning Students

Even though children of immigrant perform well, most of them, especially teens face problems when it comes to language skills, culture, and social barriers along with their poverty circle. Children are not able to cope with the natives speaking English as they lack time to get their study materials and make friends with native citizens. There are no helping hands from their family as the parents work multiple jobs or work in shift timings to make ends meet. This in due course results in more dropouts.

Young immigrant’s independence constraints with the family

Children who have mastered English are often seen as translators for their parents outside, as the parents have limited English proficiency that have less education and qualification. This creates tiffs among the parents and children, where the child feels isolated in the new country and has mixed cultural barriers, on the other hand the parents feels their children have become too Americanized and independent. These misconceptions can be brought down when there is some active communication established by NGOs’ to educate the parents so that they are able to give some valuable time and support to their children.

Serving Immigrant and LEP Parents

With the help of the Federal No Child Left behind Act of 2001 the bilingual and immigration education program has been further strengthened. Many workshops and community centers support the immigrant families by introducing programs like:

-Making English a secondary Language, parent workshops, computer training, translations and referrals.

-Programs for new bees by proving language improvement and co-curricular and cultural course.

-Partnership with educators, medical team and cultural leadership in society to serve the immigrant community.

-Five-year high school program for those immigrant students who lack in English speech and who need extra coaching.

The projects mentioned above focus on the targeted immigrants that will provide them a base and make them strong and powerful. These projects will hopefully be able to contact the broader audience of the immigrant children, making it a safer place to be in, setting out their legal papers through the consulting of a good immigrant lawyer and by going through the green card process in order to receive their citizenship.

It is to be noted here that for every immigrant it is imperative to appear for the Medical Immigration Exam; one can adjust status or expedite the process for a Green Card only if the US Medical Immigration Examination is undertaken. This is a mandatory part of the US Immigration exam.

“Lucky” Chinese New Year symbols are an important part of

celebrating the Spring Festival.

Afterall, it is the start of spring — a perfect time to

have your New Year wishes come true!

And what better way to usher in happiness, prosperity and

health than to enjoy “auspicious food” with family and

friends?

Here are the Top 8 auspicious food symbols for Chinese New

Year.

Top 8 Auspicious Food Symbols for Chinese New

Year

1. Hot Pot

A steaming hot pot (or chinese fondue) with meat, seafood

and vegetables) is a must.

Huo3 in hot pot huo3 guo3 火锅 is the same word as huo3 in

hong2 huo3 红火 “prosperous and booming”.

2. Fish

Another must-have dish if you want to experience abundance

in the new year.

Fish yu2 鱼 is the most popular dish served during Chinese

New Year.

In Chinese fish has the same sound as “surplus” and

“abundance” 余.

A whole fish is served on Chinese New Year’s eve for the

reunion dinner.

Usually the fish is steamed.

It is a good omen to leave the bones and head and tail

intact.

This symbolizes surplus/abundance and a good beginning and

end in the new year.

Best served whole.

3. Shrimp

Shrimp xia1 虾 in Mandarin and ha in Cantonese sounds

like someone laughing.

Eat shrimp for happiness and well-being.

4. Boiled dumplings

A Chinese New Year tradition is eating boiled dumplings.

These are shaped like gold ingots.

Dumplings jiao3 zi 饺子 sounds like jiao1 zi3 交子which

means the hour of transition into the New Year.

Hence, in northern China, dumplings filled with meat are

eaten on Chinese New Year’s eve to usher in good luck and

wealth in the New Year.

Sometimes a coin is placed in one of the dumplings. Whoever

bites on it will have plenty of wealth in the new year.

When dumplings and yellow noodles are cooked together they

mean “golden threads through gold ingots”.

In the eastern cities of China, like Shanghai, Hangzhou and

Suzhou, egg dumplings are eaten as they look like gold

ingots.

5. Oyster

Hao2 sounds like hao3 shi4 好事 which means “good

things”.

In southern China, it is served with thin rice

noodles.

6. Green vegetables

For close family ties, serve some greens.

Qing1 cai4 青菜 sounds like qing1 亲 as in qin1 re 亲热 mea

ning “close/intimate”

7. Sticky rice cake

Nian2 gao1 年糕.

Nian2 means year and cake gao1 sounds the

same as high gao1 高.

So eating this steamed cake made of rice flour and topped

with red dates has the meaning of attaining greater

prosperity and rank in the new year.

8. Noodles

Known as chang2 shou4 mian4 长寿面 meaning “longevity

noodles”.

A wish for good fortune — Good Luck, Prosperity, Longevity,

Happiness and Abundance — is central to the Chinese way of

life.

Even more so during Chinese New Year!

For more auspicious Chinese food symbols and DIY Chinese recipes, visit www.living-chinese-symbols.com.

The Tangram is a Chinese puzzle over a millennium old. It resembles the Western jigsaw puzzle, but differs from the same in always having seven pieces, which are fitted together in different ways to make an almost infinite number of different shapes. Each puzzle-game begins by posing or selecting a challenge–an outline or silhouette of a figure which is supposed to be the “solution” of the game. Make your solution by arranging the pieces of the tangram-set to attain a match with the given figure.

Several versions on its word etymology abound while its Chinese origin is almost uncontested. The most current version from Hanyu Pinyin (the romanization system for Chinese Mandarin developed by the People’s Republic of China) calls the tangram: qi quiao ban–and is translated to literally mean “seven boards of cunning.” Another version claims Tang is Cantonese for “Chinese” and Gram is for “something drawn”–therefore, “something Chinese drawn.”

To make a tangram, just get a square piece of material and cut it into five right-triangles (there will be three different sizes: with two for each of the smaller and bigger pieces), a square, and a rhomboid (also called a parallelogram). If you cannot make this out, just get yourself any illustrated English dictionary, and look up the word–tangram; most of the time, you will find an illustration with it. Alternatively, just browser-search the word on the Internet…

Aside from mandating that all seven pieces (called tans) are used to solve a puzzle, the rules of the game further require that none of the pieces overlap and that the tans are touching one another. Puzzles must comply with these tenets in order to be considered as official or “compliant” tangram puzzles.

Some of the puzzles currently offered include: geometric shapes, numerals and alphabetic characters; man-made objects such as houses, buildings, bridges; human figures in action, different animals in many poses, and others. An estimate is that there are 6.13 million possible “compliant” configurations–where “compliant” means that at least one edge and at least one vertex of any tan is matched to (or touching) an edge or the vertex (or tip) of another.

Convex shapes are tangram configurations where a line segment drawn between any two points on the shape always pass through the interior of the configuration. These are a few simple polygons, with no recesses on them; which have been proven to number only thirteen. This count includes just the following: one right-triangle, six quadrilaterals, two pentagons, and four hexagons.

Paradoxes are two similar shapes, with one being a derivative of the other; almost the same but distinctively different because the other has a part of it missing. The most common of this is the Dudeney paradox of two monks– where the other version has a foot missing.

Over all these years, the tangram has maintained its universal appeal as a worthy pastime and object of interest in art and design; while teaching geometric abstraction, proportion, and context.