Ashley's Blog http://ashleypr.prblogs.org thoughts on PR from a humble rookie Mon, 20 Mar 2006 18:37:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 en ¡Ay! ¡Mi lengua Americana perezosa! http://ashleypr.prblogs.org/2006/03/20/%c2%a1ay-%c2%a1mi-lengua-americana-perezosa/ http://ashleypr.prblogs.org/2006/03/20/%c2%a1ay-%c2%a1mi-lengua-americana-perezosa/#comments Mon, 20 Mar 2006 18:37:55 +0000 ashley http://ashleypr.prblogs.org/2006/03/20/%c2%a1ay-%c2%a1mi-lengua-americana-perezosa/ So I have been trying to get my lazy American tongue into shape. For those who don´t know, Spanish speaking people have tongues that can move so fast - it´s really amazing. Actually, it´s only amazing if you are American and you are trying to speak Spanish and sound fluent, but can´t seem to get your tongue to move fast enough. So, I have decided to read aloud every day in Spanish, while also recording myself with Audacity. I have been needing to get better acquainted with the software anyway, and since it takes a while to get used to speaking with articulation and good tone when being recorded, I thought I would do all of this practicing at one time.

I am getting better, but practice makes perfect. Honestly, I used to be better at speaking Spanish I think than I am now. My college classes just haven´t been forcing me to speak it as much as I need in order to keep my mouth in shape. The workout is starting now so I can speak better when I go to Spain for a month this summer!

Also, perhaps to tie this in to PR, I was thinking today about how little we retain about Geography since we focused on it last in around 7th grade. Honestly, sitting in my Business Spanish II class today, mi profe was teaching us about Uruguay and Paraguay and their economies, and thank god he showed us maps.

Geography is just one of those subjects that doesn’t get reinstilled in many students as they move on to more specialized curriculums in college and even as early as high school. But it is so important that we all know more about the environment and the rest of the world around us, especially if you are in PR and want to market yourself as someone who could relate to other cultures in a different language. I need to get familiar with not just the Hispanic and Latin American countries, but the geography of the world… I mean when was the last time people, especially those in college, stopped to look at a map to figure out exactly where a country they mention in the news really is? Too much specialization can make us dumbed down to common knowledge we learned in elementary and middle school, it’s kind of depressing…

]]> http://ashleypr.prblogs.org/2006/03/20/%c2%a1ay-%c2%a1mi-lengua-americana-perezosa/feed/ Some things I have learned about PR http://ashleypr.prblogs.org/2006/03/15/some-things-i-have-learned-about-pr/ http://ashleypr.prblogs.org/2006/03/15/some-things-i-have-learned-about-pr/#comments Wed, 15 Mar 2006 22:41:11 +0000 ashley http://ashleypr.prblogs.org/2006/03/15/some-things-i-have-learned-about-pr/ Yes, I can actually say that I am learning something about this PR business. But it isn’t as easy as it looks on Sex and the City. Perhaps as students we learn a new strategy and see one negative example and as creatures of habit, we latch on to those examples and guidelines. But it is not so black and white and that is the fine art to PR I think. You have to be humble… just because one company didn’t do the best job doesn’t mean they are a bunch of idiots. But it is easy for students after they have been shown a common pitfall committed by a major company to think all companies are making mistakes somehow and that we are the ones with all of the answers.

Or perhaps it also occurrs when we have been shown an effective tool, like blogging, and think that it is the answer to all PR problems. Even our teacher and blogging enthusiast, Robert had to point out that, while it is an amazing tool for some companies, it’s not for all.

That’s why it takes smart, analytical thinkers to be PR professionals. It’s not a plug ‘n’ play kind of business. You have to stop and reconfigure every idea for a situation or a target public. This is probably old news for other PR professionals, but I am really learning now that it isn’t a profession for everyone, and that this critical thinking is what separates professionals now.

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