response activity 3

My project involves foreign language speakers at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA.  It will observe the frequency of second language speaker interaction between Guests and Cast Members, the presumption being that certain language speakers represent certain ethnographic groups (most often Spanish, French, Tagalog, Japanese, and Chinese).  Some ethnicities mighe be more difficult to determine, such as Spanish speakers, so secondary cues might be relied upon to confirm ethnicity.  The purpose of this study will be to determine the level of comfortability of certain groups speaking their native language in outside pubic commercial environments, as opposed to those who speak local English.  Cast members at the Disneyland Resort who are are conversationally bilingual have the option of having a language and added to the nametags.  Non English speaking guests are able to identify cast members who can speak their language based on the pin that is below a Cast Member's nametag. 

Understanding the various native languages which people speak has the potential to open opportunities for theme parks such as increasing offerings specifically to those ethnic groups that speak other languages.  Not only could this increase guest satisfaction, it also has the potential to increase revenue in those specific market areas.  The Disneyland Resort resort regularly runs promotional campaigns targeted at specific cultures, such as Viva Navidad and Lunar New Year.  Adding to those existing campaigns will add to the overall guest outreach and footprint.  This is something that is valuable not only to the theme park industry but also to other industries, especially industries that have a multicultural consumer base.

The largest challenge will be to collect an adequate number of data points to mitigate the potential margin of error.  It will be necessary to identify outliers and areas of potential bias.  For example, mistaking Spanish speakers in one culture with Spanish speakers of another.  Additional observation and follow-up may be necessary to mitigate those challenges.