Episode 58 – Bilingual Business, Beyond Hello: Edgar Serrano

Episode 58 - Bilingual Business, Beyond Hello: Edgar Serrano
It's About Language, with Norah Jones
It's About Language, with Norah Jones
Episode 58 - Bilingual Business, Beyond Hello: Edgar Serrano
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“We must show businesses what language can do to transform our economy, to transform their opportunities, to really connect with different markets in different ways. We feel close when somebody speaks our own language. Language skills are going to help them to make better decisions in marketing, to become better negotiators, to build stronger relationships that will last for long time and help them maintain their business and to change our stereotypes.”

Jump down to listen to the podcast

Business success, like organizational and personal success, comes from defining one’s purpose and product/service/strengths, and sharing that vision with others.

That is, it’s about language.

When a company has access to only one language, those processes take place for one slice of the “pie” of humanity. With each additional language available to a company through its employees, access to the world increases and opportunities for success and profitability open up all around.

Edgar Serrano has experienced the success in business that understanding languages and cultures brings. He points out how employees that know languages lower costs while increasing the likelihood of profitability. He demonstrates how orienting one’s business (or service, or life) to the world multiplies exponentially the connections that make success possible, and along the way bring us closer together as human beings.

Edgar notes: “We do not do business with companies. We do business with people. We connect, we transform, we need languages to ignite our economy. We need businesses to help others grow and to create jobs. Learning a language and going into business is a win-win situation.”

Educators listening to this podcast, you already know the importance of motivating students. Businesspeople listening to this podcast, you already know the importance of marketing and messaging. To again quote Edgar, “Teaching is selling, and selling is teaching.”

To have multiple languages in one’s life and business is to reach a much bigger world with our message, our product, our personal strengths and purposes.

Take a look at all the resources and links in Edgar Serrano’s biography. Connect up with him to learn much more about the power of multilingualism in business.

Enjoy the podcast.


Click to listen:

This week’s guest, Edgar Serrano, shares three important tips for businesses to grow and succeed through harnessing the power of languages.

Scroll down for full transcript.

Thank you for always focusing on the possibilities, opportunities and the power of language and what it can do for us individually - and collectively!

Elizabeth Mack

If you've never done #cliftonstrengths, yourself or with your team, don't wait any longer.  Norah Jones of FLUENCY CONSULTING is the one and only to do it! It's all about your super powers: finding & using them to affect positive change in the world. What's not to love?!

Elizabeth Mack
Founder and CEO / Freestyle Languages

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Yes, @NorahLulicJones definitely has the talent of "bringing out" the best in others or allowing them to showcase themselves in the best light! Thank you for directing the spotlight on others who have great stories and talents to share with others. 

Lisa Fore

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Your podcasts are exceptionally relevant and applicable, thought-provoking and insightful, easy-to-follow and enjoyable!  

Paul Sandrock
Senior Advisor for Language Learning Initiatives / ACTFL

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You have an immense talent to draw the best from your participants. 

Richard Brecht

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Norah knows how to LISTEN - she really "hears" the message - and the interview is richer because of it.  New questions come from the hearing. 

Terri Marlow

Want to hear more? Access previous episodes, and get to know the wonderful people I talk with through the It’s About Language page, or by clicking on the Podcast tab above. You can also find this week’s episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

As a certified Gallup Strengths coach, I can provide you or your organization personalized coaching to discover and build on your strengths.

I provide workshops, presentations, and talks that inspire and engage through powerful language insights, and I pair those insights with practical applications for the lives of educators, learners, businesses, and faith-centered organizations. I’d love to share ideas with your organization or group, and develop an event tailored to your objectives.

Click here to start a conversation.


Transcript

Norah Jones:

It’s such a great pleasure to have amazing people to talk with. And it’s my pleasure, especially when I get a chance to have amazing colleagues to talk to twice. I’ve asked Edgar Serrano to come back as my guest today because Edgar you’re, first of all, so energizing, next, you have a finger in so many amazing language pies, but especially today, we’re going to focus on the idea of the fact that businesses are well, they need to be bilingual, multilingual in order to not miss the business boat. So you have some aspects to share with us about ideas about how to make that possible and why it’s important, right.

Edgar Serrano:

That’s right, Norah, thank you so much for having me again and thank you for letting me share with you and your audience about my passion, about world languages and about international sales.

Norah Jones:

And Edgar, provide little bit of background for the listeners about why it is that these are in fact topics in your life and about which you have a lot of authority and background to say.

Edgar Serrano:

Well, thank you, Norah. Yes, I worked for a furniture manufacturer for about 13 and a half years here in the state of Mississippi. And my job was to do international sales for them. Once I joined the company, it was because these people have already reached their distribution and they were looking for opportunities to grow and to continue to keep the factory going. So I joined the company back in 1996 and that’s where all this started. And I started seeing all these interesting things happening with culture, language, and all these opportunities and in a way, an opportunity that created for me to be able to work with this company as well, because here in the state of Mississippi, there were not that many people that spoke Spanish at that time and not even now. So that helped me really have a more of a background to see the importance that these connections can have between languages and businesses.

Norah Jones:

What are some of the tips that you would provide to businesses who have potentially not thought about the impact of languages and cultures, but especially languages on their bottom line or on how they run their business?

Edgar Serrano:

Yes. Well, actually I have three tips for you that we can share with your audience. And the first one is, I think something that is really important as a company that wants to expand their business and as going to different markets, number one, we need to understand our demographics. How this is changing and growing and who your target market is. Right now the largest speaking country in the world is Mexico, but second in line is the United States. So we can also target some demographics here in the states. And for that, you need to have people that are really proficient in a foreign language.

Edgar Serrano:

And that needs to probably in many cases, needs to be defined or really needs to be clarified because a lot of times people think, well, I speak a language, but the question is, what can you do with the language? How much can you do? Right. So understanding this from the point of you as a company trying to hire somebody is really crucial because what you want to do as a company is to reduce your cost as well. So if you’re going to invest on an employee that is multilingual, you have to make sure that that employee is going to be to the part of what you need to be able to do as manufacturer or as a company.

Edgar Serrano:

For example, if you are thinking about expanding your business, you need to find somebody who’s a good negotiator, somebody who really can talk about features, benefits of your product to really explain how the distribution is going to happen. And something very important that I remember is that a customer once told me, “Edgar, I do not do business with companies, I do business with people.”

Edgar Serrano:

And that was very powerful because I knew right that what he was telling me, it was that he wanted somebody who really was taking care of him or his company, somebody who will be able to solve customer service issues, somebody who will be able to send parts in a timely manner, somebody who will be able to negotiate with him or about payment plans or getting credit. And for that, you need to have somebody who is superior a speaker of the language. Therefore, I think it’s so important that we advocate and we teach people on what these guidelines that ACTFL has put together really mean in order to really say, this is what I can do and this is my level of proficiency. That given the company a really good way of measuring if that employee, future employer or prospect employer, employee is the right person that they need in order to help them expand their business.

Edgar Serrano:

Because somebody who speaks a good high level of proficient language can help them reduce cost on translators. They can help them reduce issues that they may have. Also something that is very important is that they will help them understand the culture, culture and language are so tied together that many times that creates misunderstandings or opportunities too. But in many cases, like in my experience working with a furniture manufacturer, things that may sound even simple became a challenging to negotiate or to try to fix. For example, trying to add an address.

Edgar Serrano:

Addresses around the world are different and they may require a lot of lines in your software. And if you don’t have that, that is never going to reach that person. Or now we have more email and technology and things like that, but knowing how to address the person that is also very important and crucial creating your marketing strategy. If you’re going to create a marketing strategy has to be cultural sensitive. Is that really important for this market? For example, I was just reading about campaign that a beer company did and they were translating their slogan and their slogan in English is “Turn it Loose.” Turn it Loose. And do you know what it became?

Norah Jones:

No.

Edgar Serrano:

Suffering from diarrhea, that’s what the Spanish [is]. So that basically did not help very much. So that’s why I think one of my tips it will be assess the proficiency of your employees.

Norah Jones:

I know that you said you have three, so I’m going to take you just on a bit of a rabbit trail here with number one. You’ve spoken really Edgar here about well, many things, but here two levels or two types of proficiency. One, you referred to the national language organization that which you named, as you said, ACTFL that has a list of the kinds of levels of language proficiency that allow for the speakers to participate in work environments.

Edgar Serrano:

Correct.

Norah Jones:

So there’s a level of skill of the language overall, you referred to one of them, again, there as superior. Then there’s the proficiency of the cultural knowledge, the sensitivity. You’ve given some examples of times when that didn’t happen. And I’m still going to go to that part to say, have you found then that understanding this need does indeed enhance a business’ bottom line, its outreach, its growth. So many times we hear the pushback that everybody knows English, and yes, we can use a translator yet what you’ve just shared with us is that proficiency, as far as speech and writing, and proficiency is part as culture is making a difference that presumably can’t be made.

Edgar Serrano:

Yes. Because you make connections with people. As human beings, you’re going to do business with people that you trust and care about. So that is a great ability when you can really communicate and even understand in a deeper way, the language where somebody’s going to make a joke. And you’re going to understand that and be able to laugh with that person. Because in reality, we know that we are going to be more comfortable speaking our first language. So that is going to make a connection and that is going to give this company or this person an ability to be more important in the eyes of the customer.

Edgar Serrano:

So there you have a great advantage when you are competing with so many people, so many companies who want the same customer. So if you have a skill that gives you that edge and you can take care of that customer, your business is going to grow. For example, I can give you a positive example that we kind of learn here. We learn to understand that size in the furniture industry, it’s important in different countries. So if you understand, like for example, in Mexico City, Bueno Aires Argentina, Madrid, Paris, all the houses are getting smaller and smaller and smaller. So you need to really have the right product to really service that market.

Edgar Serrano:

So the company that I worked for did is basically analyze all these markets and create a product that was going to be a specific for those markets. And then they created things that could be more user friendly, something that will fold something that will recline, something like a popup table. So all these understanding of the culture can open new opportunities that can give the person trying to do business a great advantage.

Norah Jones:

And it sounds so much more humane. You go in desiring to show the effort to get to know them, rather than having them make the effort to get to know you and hope that you discover what they need.

Edgar Serrano:

And in businesses like that, you have to find that need before they know they have it. So you have to go and you have to analyze, you have to understand, you have to connect, you have to… Right now, we aren’t able to travel as much, but when we were able to travel, you could talk to the person who was selling the product in the store, train that person to really show the benefits of your product, what makes you different. And if you connect also with a salesperson, with a buyer, you are really creating this great potential for your company to profit and to continue a growth. Because if the customer doesn’t see a benefit, they’re going to drop you. And what you want to do is to stay.

Norah Jones:

And to stay and be the preferred. As you said, you want to be the center of that competitive circle to which they can turn. And that was just the first tip. What’s your second tip?

Edgar Serrano:

Well, with that, many times, we need to do a lot of advocacy, but also to understand numbers, because I think there are many times that we have perceptions about different markets and what could be profitable. So if you analyze the data and start seeing who exporting the product, you can probably can find a channel where your product will be successful. If you find like the largest countries that are taking the exports from the United States, then probably you can say, okay, there’s something happening there. For example, right now the biggest product countries that we are exporting is Mexico, Canada and China.

Norah Jones:

Interesting.

Edgar Serrano:

If you look, well, of course, Canada and Mexico, they’re close, but also we have a trade agreement that helps that. So tariffs may be low, shipping and handling will be easier and faster. So there is a potential right there. So it is a good way to see where your business can go. And also to show the need for somebody who is going to help you expand that business. Because many times, we don’t understand that as educators, someone to go a little bit on that educator part or somebody who believes that English is going to be the language of business, which it is.

Edgar Serrano:

But I go back again to the cultural part where we need to connect, because the number shows there that there is a potential. For example, here in the state of Mississippi, we exported in 2020 $10 billion around the globe. And 1.2 were exported to Mexico, 1.2 billion US dollars. And sometimes when I talk about this, people don’t believe me. They look at me like, “Oh, really are those the numbers.” I never heard that because sometimes it’s not really shared, you have to explore a little bit. But you can see, yes, there is a potential, there is a way that we can find opportunity for different products to grow.

Edgar Serrano:

If we invest early enough to have a good workforce that is multilingual, I think that number can even grow even bigger because the US has a total exported about 200 billion dollars. And that my friend, that creates a lot of jobs in the United States, it’s not only about exporting because now, if we have this ability with language and speaking and connecting and understanding, then we can bring jobs into our country that we need, because we live in a global economy where we need different raw materials that maybe somebody doesn’t have. Here in Mississippi, the furniture industry is big because we have the raw material that is needed for that product. We here, I think we have more than 400 companies that call Mississippi home and about, can you believe 22% of the jobs in the state of Mississippi are tied to trade, 22%.

Edgar Serrano:

And here population is 96% monolingual and 2.4% speak Spanish. So if we can grow that, we are going to be even more competitive because right now, Mississippi is number 33 as a state that exports out. So we can even have more exports. We can bring more investment. Right now the biggest investment here in the state is from Japan, from Hong Kong and from Germany. So we even need people that speaks Japanese, that speaks Chinese. We need a multilingual workforce that really can ignite this potential of growth and numbers, looking at data, it helps a lot to understand that because also breaks perceptions. Because sometimes we believe that, oh, no, that is not going to be good, that this country is not as rich because we have different perceptions of richness or what we have heard. But when we start looking at the numbers and we know that even the Mexico city’s domestic growth is bigger than 10 countries in the area, it’s just amazing, it’s mind blowing.

Edgar Serrano:

Because now you say, okay, there is a potential for a product to grow and to expand. So how do I do this? Then you need to find the workforce. So you need to find the distribution channels and you have to find opportunities, but data is extremely crucial for others to also understand it for business and for people who are advocating for programs to be implemented in their state, because we need for our legislators, we need for our districts to understand that language is business. And there is a win-win relationship there. And we can transform our local economy, our regional and our estate and our country’s economy with all this. So language is so powerful, so powerful, and knowing who you are hiring and knowing the data that is going to take you there to find new ways is going to be super, super helpful.

Norah Jones:

Before we go to tip number three, what kind of training have you done in Mississippi or beyond to help people to speak fluent understanding of the implications of numbers on the need for multilingual employees and company, staff and processes?

Edgar Serrano:

Yes. Well, every year we go to Washington to talk to Congress with JNCL-NCLIS and to present to our representatives the importance of really creating and supporting programs that will enrich our state with languages. So I reach to the offices of our senators and state representatives to share with them this data and to really show them the importance of supporting the schools, their teachers and all their students, because we need to have investment from them to create programs to help them pay for assessments, to buy books and for teachers to really be well trained.

Edgar Serrano:

So the opportunity that I have by reaching to our legislators is the one that I use a lot to really share these numbers and to share with them on the impact that it can have, but also I share with my network and with people, and I’m always advocating and I always hear different opinions about it and I enrich from that and I learn from that as well. But I tell them, I say, listen, just think about Switzerland, for example. 10% of their GDP is thanks to the multilingual heritage that they have, and they speak German, French, Italian, and Romansh. So they are very multilingual country and it helps their economy to continue.

Edgar Serrano:

And also something important to say about that is that many times, people, when I’m speaking about these numbers and about the importance of business, is that they probably think that I’m telling them that they don’t have to speak English anymore. And that is not the case, the case is to have more skills, to really keep our English to continue with your mother tongue, but to get proficient with other languages to connect with this multilingual world. Because the truth is that other countries are preparing their people to compete with you. So we need to be competitive. We need to have that edge that is going to help us make an impact.

Edgar Serrano:

So I shared this with legislators, I shared this with school districts as well when I’m advocating for the Mississippi Seal of Biliteracy. And actually when we first started implementing the Seal, this was one of the things that really created a big powerful push, because everybody saw the importance of starting, creating programs to support, encourage and celebrate multilingualism.

Norah Jones:

Are businesses in Mississippi and in other places that you, from which you’re aware, do they know about the Seal of Biliteracy available through the states or that Global Seal of Biliteracy that comes through assessment also?

Edgar Serrano:

I don’t think they do yet. I think that’s a job that we have to still keep going. Here in Mississippi, we established the seal in 2019, we became the 37, which by the way, until 2020, Mississippi has awarded 53 Seals of Biliteracy, which is amazing, amazing. We are celebrating that, but we need to advocate a lot for that. And that will be my tip number three, we need to continue advocating for establishing programs that are going to help create this workforce that is multilingual.

Edgar Serrano:

Many times parents say, well, I want my kid to speak another language, but I don’t know how, or I better wait till this age, but the truth is when we start early, you have more time to work on your trade and to work on your language skills and that is going to help our economy. When we can start from pre-K for a place where they can really work and establish, like I was saying at the beginning, a high level of proficiency to become superior speakers, because what we want is that ability to be able to negotiate in a different language, to connect, to understand a joke, to really become that human that can transform things and connect us to bring business into our state. So we need to do a lot of work still to promote and to really teach everybody of what we as educators are doing out there.

Norah Jones:

Three segments of education come to me, Edgar. So let’s take a look at them if you would. You talk about the importance and we know as those who are in the language field of how the brain of very young children, prime to learn any number of languages simultaneously, not everybody knows that. So we keep saying it over and over again. So we have the young ones, that’s one pool to work with that I’d love for you to continue to address next is to give hope to adults who may not have had that experience. And here I come to sort of divide those adults into two groups.

Norah Jones:

One is you have alluded several times to those who would need superior skills, advanced and superior skills in order to be able to really help to make business thrive. What happens is there are a place for adults who do not have superior skills, but are nevertheless learning language for say specific career purpose, job position that they can make use of the language potentially to grow it, but to at least get started using another language even if they’re not at that advanced level, can you address those three populations please.

Edgar Serrano:

Yes. I think, it’s very important to learn a language and if you are learning something, it doesn’t matter what level you are, it’s still very important to do it, but what can you do with it is going to be your reach, I guess, on what your potential could be to be part of a community that drives business towards. But for example, I was just reading a report for one of the websites, it’s the International Center for Language Studies. And they were mentioning like hospitality, it really needs to have that.

Edgar Serrano:

So if we are in a hotel and tourism is coming, at least we need to know how to greet them, how to guide them. You don’t have to be highly proficient for this, you don’t have to negotiate for a trade agreement, but you can certainly provide a service where somebody feels welcome and connected to you because you are speaking their native language, and that is very important. So hospitality is one of them.

Edgar Serrano:

Information technology is another one. Information technology, many times people think, oh, we can replace foreign language with computers, but actually these people who are creating programs, they need to expand globally because now we are doing all this globally. So they need to have at least an intermediate level of proficiency to be able to operate. They could create questions. They need to understand a little bit of the steps and procedures, but they don’t need again to have a full narrative, right? Human resources person can interview somebody, can ask few questions about that person to find a little bit more about them. Healthcare professionals, oh my gosh, we need that. Learning a language also creates empathy for others. Many times we have people with big issues and more now that we are living in this challenge, mental health has become a huge issue.

Edgar Serrano:

And sometimes people may not feel so comfortable sharing certain things with a translator, or a lot of times they use their kids as a translator. They may not feel comfortable sharing that with them. So if you at least have this knowledge where you can communicate in a simple but meaningful manner, you can certainly create different groups where you can be useful. Because any level is very important, learn a language, that’s the message, you need to. You don’t need to be highly proficient for that. However, it’s good to learn a language, it’s good to open to new ideas because if we understand others, others are going to understand us.

Norah Jones:

And trust and build that trust, no question. How about those programs for younger students, or how about programs in general, where do you send the folks that you talk to? Where do you encourage those that are in the business community, listening to this podcast today, where do they go to advocate, to develop or find those skilled employees and participants for their own benefit?

Edgar Serrano:

Sure. I think if, as a company working, I think it will be important to connect with a local language organization to help them find some of the resources that they may need. And also partner with your local schools, universities that may provide the services that you need, or the people that they may know that you could hire and recommend because if they have the skills and the teachers know about it and you connect with them, probably will be a good way to reach out and to start bringing into your company somebody who will be very useful for you.

Norah Jones:

So there are resources right around most businesses in most states. I mean, here in Virginia, we do have a group that was established by the language organization called Global Virginia that is working at connecting language opportunities with the businesses that are found in the state. But yet, and here’s going to lead to my next question for you, maybe a tough one here Edgar, so hang in there with me is despite the global experience of the pandemic, for example, despite even what people already know, although apparently they don’t know that much about global business, there’s pushback where languages are being stripped out of degree programs that are intended for those that are going into business careers or technology careers, kept only in college oriented things as if it were a subject rather than a tool for folks to use in their careers, it’s still happening. In some cases it’s happening more than ever.

Norah Jones:

How then do you, when you talk to businesses that potentially are resistant, maybe you have, without naming names, some anecdotal stories that can help us to understand what keeps businesses or those who are in legislature to developing laws from understanding the connection between languages and profitability and careers?

Edgar Serrano:

I think, maybe it’s not that they don’t see the value of it or they don’t understand it because they probably think it is, but it is more about, okay, I speak English, they’re going to speak English to me. So a lot of that has to be showing them that there is a real value by increasing your skills and be able to connect with somebody where you can really understand them culturally, understand simple things like time, some ways of saying things. So you have to show them the numbers, you have to really show them the numbers and say, listen, we are already, we are already doing 10.2 billion dollars with a 96 monolingual population. Just think how much we could do if we can increase just to 10%, it’s going to be amazing. Why?

Edgar Serrano:

Because there is a lot of value. You can reduce your cost because you’re not going to be depending on so many people to translate things, translators are very expensive by the way, and very useful, but they have a great skill and that’s why it’s a little pricey, but you can reduce that by having somebody who is going to help you connect in different levels.

Edgar Serrano:

So value, it has to be the main point, show them the value, show them what language can do to transform our economy, to transform their opportunities, to really connect with different markets in different ways. Because we like to feel close by when somebody speaks our own language, right. And also is going to help them to make better decisions in marketing, to become better negotiators, to build stronger relationships that will last for long time and help them maintain their business and to change the wrong stereotypes that we have. But value is the main thing here to help them see that there is even more than we believe there is.

Norah Jones:

Beautifully said, Edgar. Making sure that those that are listening today understand the various levels at which you participate in this. I mean, your degree is in business administration. You were at the University of Mississippi. You also teach young children. You have a wonderful website that is in with your biography on my website called powerthattalk.com. And you also teach adults virtual language. Do you not? You have a finger pretty much everywhere walking the walk of the language. Can you speak about how that provides you with insights, with the encouragement that you’re giving to business right now?

Edgar Serrano:

Yes. Teaching the kids is one of the most beautiful things that I have done and the most rewarding, I think all of them are rewarding, but seeing a kid really accept what you’re telling them and really absorbing that knowledge and just learning the language and they just go and greet to you and hola, and they use it without fear of being judged is beautiful. Because you see the potential of starting at that age, starting at pre-K. I have taught kids three year olds all the way to eighth grade, and they all have their own strengths and it’s great to see them progressing and the way they analyze information.

Edgar Serrano:

So I love that from that group, is very powerful and how they also start changing their perspective about the world, understanding what is beyond our borders, it’s crucial that we eat different things and they must think that it’s gross. But when you tell them that you eat certain that other people think they’re gross, they don’t believe it and they think it’s funny, but that’s a way that we connect with the little kids. So I see that potential. I see the future. I see these little kids making a change in our world to making an impact, to make us better, to be a better understanding human being. We start there.

Edgar Serrano:

I teach the college students and I love teaching them because I have been fortunate to be around great students. And they all have their own fears, but we have to fight that mental challenge that we are not prepare that is hard. So I have to do a lot of mental changing perspective for them to teach them that it’s not too late. Some people feel intimidated by others that know a little bit more.

Edgar Serrano:

We are afraid of making mistakes. And that becomes a little bit of a challenge. And I guess that’s why I advocate for programs to be implemented early, because I’ve seen that it’s easier to go through that process early on, but it’s not impossible either. Once we find a motivation, once we see the value of what somebody can do as a doctor, somebody who can do as a psychologist to help somebody transform a life, how powerful is that? How amazing is to touch somebody else’s life, somebody who can really be different and to have that empathy towards others that need it so much, and they need it right now.

Edgar Serrano:

And adults, I see those adults, they have the motivation, they’re learning. I’m teaching with this school in Texas, it’s called Freestyle Languages. And they teach also with different programs, one is a construction company. And they want to know about that. And they have programs for English speakers and Spanish speakers, bilingual and it’s amazing to see this process, but for them, they are seeing that it’s needed for them to speak other languages. So they have the motivation. And that is a key factor in anything that we want to learn. When you have that motivation, they’re learning. So they get things fast. It’s a pleasure teaching them, is fun. The time just flies by.

Edgar Serrano:

We have bilingual reunions where we change and play games and they have to find names in Spanish and the other one has to find names in English. And we just become a group of learners that is just enjoying the process. So that’s why I love teaching them because I see this process and I see what they are going to be able to do with language.

Edgar Serrano:

And I guess in a way, I like to be this person that can help make impact into our country, into our communities, into encouraging others to see us differently because language is powerful, language is humanity, language is that place where we interact, we connect and we learn. And that is amazing. And I love teaching all these groups of people and yes, you’re right, I have a lot of things going on and I enjoy every one of them. It’s just a great, great experience.

Edgar Serrano:

And to be honest with you, teaching and selling, when I was selling is pretty much the same at least for me, because teaching is selling, selling is teaching for me. And we need to power that talk with languages because if you sell your class, you’re selling a product. So it’s very similar. You have to connect with them. They have to trust you in order to learn the language, to really go and feel confident. They have to come to an environment where they feel welcome and where mistakes are acceptable because they think that they have to be, especially the young adults at college, they think that they have to be perfect and we have to start at one point. Nobody is perfect, nobody. So I guess that’s a long answer, but I really love teaching them. It energizes me. It’s a way that I feel that I can do something for our country.

Norah Jones:

You have said so many eloquent things to even comment on it instead of to just allow it to continue to glow there. But I think that one of the things that touched my heart there too was you said, I see the future. I see the future. And in fact, you’re opening the doors to that future and are here today as you are in your every day, advocating for others to open those doors to the future too. Edgar, as we wrap up today, I just want to make sure what one last thing do you want to make sure that our listeners know from you today? What’s that one thing you want to make sure that you don’t leave today without saying, or saying again?

Edgar Serrano:

Just to remember that we do not do business with companies, we do business with people. We connect, we transform, we need languages to ignite our economy. We need businesses to help others grow, to create jobs, but learning a language and going into business is a win-win situation. So I will encourage people to learn a language, no matter what age they are, and to really invest in their kids to start now. And if their state or school is not offering a program for them to really advocate, to be implemented, to support the teachers, to support the schools because language matters and we need to keep it going because it’s going to be our future.

Norah Jones:

Edgar Serrano, thank you so much for being my guest today. Thank you for sharing your passion and your insights.

Edgar Serrano:

Thank you so much, Norah, really appreciate it. Thank you for having me back. I certainly appreciate it. It’s been an honor and thank you for letting me share my experience with your audience and with you and for all of you, I wish you all the best and let’s transform this world with languages.

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