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Learning a Language
for Business
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Speaking
the language and understanding the culture of foreign customers
may boost business.
By Joyce Romine
A foreign customer will know you mean business if you learn to communicate
in his or her language. Even for those who don’t have clients overseas,
the acquisition of a language can provide new perspectives.
Spanish Lessons Give Columnist Better Opportunities for a Scoop
Bill McClellan, reporter and columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
decided that learning a language would add a new dimension to
his work. He realized this keen interest when Ray Hartman, publisher
of the Riverfront Times, asked him what he would do if he
had the time. “I told him I would learn Spanish,” McClellan says.
For the past two years, McClellan has taken private Spanish lessons
weekly from Custom Language Services in St. Louis. “I’m still a
work in progress,” he says. “My comprehension is not where I want
it to be yet. But I can write in Spanish fairly well, because I
can take my time.”
In fact, McClellan has penned a handful of columns in Spanish for
a local bilingual newspaper, ¿Qué Pasa?…St. Louis. “Writing allows
me to stretch my capabilities and it’s fun.”
McClellan’s instructor is Beatriz Robles Loper. In addition to having
conversations with McClellan in Spanish, he furthers his language
skills by listening to Spanish tapes, reading Spanish magazines
and comic books, and studying ads in Hispanic publications.
McClellan also challenges his colleague Greg Freeman with word duels.
“Greg majored in Spanish in college and spent time in Mexico so
he’s fluent in Spanish,” McClellan says. “I’m always trying to outdo
him with word tests.
“People appreciate it if you can talk to them in their language,”
he continues. “As a reporter, it is a big advantage to speak Spanish
because of the growing Hispanic population. In St. Louis, it’s not
as important yet, but we’ll get there.”
McClellan frequently visits Mexico City since his brother-in-law
lives there. McClellan actually lived in Mexico briefly, in 1980,
before moving to St. Louis.
Learning Another Language Builds Relationships and Opens New
Portals of Data for Analyst
Ann Crepin, manager of international sales analysis, has worked
in the international arena for the past nine of her 18 years with
Anheuser-Busch. When she was young, she lived in Japan, and later
studied Japanese in college. She also took seven years of French.
For several years, she was responsible for Anheuser-Busch’s Asian
and European markets. Now her focus is on the Latin American market
and she’s added Spanish to her repertoire of languages.
In September 2001, Crepin enrolled in a Spanish class at St. Louis
Community College. “It provided a good base, but I needed more intense
training in business conversation versus travel conversation,” Crepin
says. “So in December, I began private lessons with Marcia Monsalve
at Custom Language Services. I feel it’s part of my own personal
development plan as a manager to develop new skills. It’s a priority
for me.”
Twice a week for an hour-and-a-half session, Crepin secludes herself
in her office for tutoring from Monsalve. She expects to have private
tutoring for six to nine months to reach her goal of achieving “intermediate
conversational Spanish,” although ultimately she would like to become
fluent in Spanish. “I’m having simple conversations with Marcia
and Beatriz (Robles Loper),” she says. “Because the teachers have
different accents and expressions, I’m learning more. I’m also sending
e-mails and having telephone conversations in Spanish with Latin
American clients when I can.”
This should be good preparation for her travels in the coming year,
in which she plans to travel to Latin America four to six times.
She sees multiple business advantages of learning another language.
“My customers appreciate the effort when I communicate in Spanish,”
she says. “They’re always surprised and pleased, and they try to
help me use the language. I think it makes the business relationship
stronger. My customers know I’m working hard for them and their
business because I’m studying their language. I can also sit in
business meetings now and understand what’s being said in Spanish
about pricing, market share and marketing. That’s important information
I can use.”
Crepin also applies her Spanish skills on the Internet. “As an analyst,
I collect data,” she says. “The Internet has a wealth of data and
information available on foreign markets. But much of the data is
in the local language. For example, I can find the Latin American
equivalent of the U.S. Census, translate it and have valuable information
for my job.”
She says several secretaries at Anheuser-Busch are also taking Spanish
lessons to help them with basic business needs such as telephone
conversations and identifying important memos.
“Learning another language is worthwhile,” Crepin says. “Customers
see it as a commitment to their businesses.”
IS Manager Navigates South America with Spanish Knowledge
Gary VeuCasovic, a manager of information systems at Energizer,
recently ended his private Spanish training after two years. To
make his company Y2K compliant, he had been traveling to South America
regularly to replace software.
“Spanish helped me get around in cabs and hotels,” he says. “I had
gotten to the point where I could have conversations in Spanish,
handle everyday conversations and participate in meetings. The people
I worked with appreciated me trying to speak their language. It
made a difference, even if they were intangible results. People
warmed up to me, because I spoke their language.”
VeuCasovic says he learned the language quickly because of the intensive
tutoring. “We met twice a week for an hour-and-a-half each time,”
he says. “One-on-one is the way to go if you need to be proficient
quickly. And you learn the idioms that show you really know the
language.”
What It Takes to Learn a Language, Conversation and Culture
Monsalve, of Custom Language Services, has seen an increased demand
for her services in the 10 years she has been in business with her
partner, Robles Loper. “Everyone believes he needs Spanish,” she
says. “The Spanish population is growing so fast—knowing Spanish
is important for all business people, even those not working in
international business. Spanish looks good on a resume and gives
you an advantage over someone else who doesn’t know it.”
Originally from Chile, Monsalve was a history teacher before moving
to the United States 30 years ago. She has taught Spanish for 25
years. Loper is originally from Mexico and has a degree in linguistics.
She was a teacher at University of Guadalajara before coming to
the United States where she now teaches Spanish.
Monsalve says most students she teaches are beginners. “Many are
executives who already travel to Latin America. We go onsite to
companies and provide intense tutoring so people learn fast. The
key is to be open. That’s why it’s easier for children to learn
a language.”
It takes 120 hours of instruction before someone is proficient enough
to use the language comfortably in business, according to Monsalve.
“The ideal is to have at least three hours of tutoring a week,”
she says. “The first 60 hours emphasize comprehension so you can
do the basics like ask questions or order something to eat. We work
on vocabulary used in their areas of business. It’s very customized.
The next 60 hours focus on conversation. We really make them speak
the language and ask and answer questions to get them to the intermediate
level.”
Another essential part of Monsalve’s tutoring is about the Hispanic
culture. “You can’t learn the language without understanding the
culture,” she says. “After instruction, people have a new appreciation
for what Latin America is all about. They see they’re like us. It’s
such an eye opener. My clients learn to respect people in Latin
America more, which makes a huge difference in their relationships
with them.”
She says people in Latin America are very polite and social. “They
are not as casual as people in the United States,” she says. “It’s
important to know this so you don’t offend them. They also don’t
like to say ‘no’ because it seems rude. You may hear a lot of ‘yes.’
But you should take ‘yes’ in a business deal as ‘maybe.’”
As part of training, Monsalve also invites her clients learning
Spanish to lunch once a month at a Mexican restaurant. “We only
speak in Spanish,” she says. “My clients love it and they get to
know other people from different companies. It’s a fun way to practice
what they are learning.”
Building Language Levels
Private—and group—instruction is also available at Berlitz Languages
Center, a private language school with 450 locations in 52 countries.
Berlitz offers private, semi-private or group instruction at the
client’s office or in Berlitz’ classrooms. “The majority of our
corporate clients take private or semi-private lessons,” says Larry
Whitehead, director of Berlitz in St. Louis. “We contend there’s
nothing better than live one-on-one instruction. Our students must
speak—this is not a lecture class. Students receive immediate correction
and direction from native-fluent instructors. We have their full
attention so students learn quickly.
“All programs are based on clients’ needs and what level of proficiency
they want to reach,” he continues. “We have 12 levels of proficiency
from basic to advanced. Level 4 to 6 is considered functional. A
typical program for Level 4 requires 90 hours of classes to learn
to speak the language well. Level 6, which includes reading, writing
the language, and expanding vocabulary, requires about 45 hours
more. But 90 to 95 percent of our clients only need to be able to
speak the language.”
Whitehead believes the approach to learning a language that many
of us experienced in high school and college is not very effective.
The Berlitz method imitates the language acquisition of the native
tongue. “As a child, you learned to speak before you ever got to
school,” he says. “Then you learned to read and write. With a new
language, learning to speak the language correctly is the first
step. Clients can learn to read and write it later.”
Berlitz also offers cross-cultural training, which is designed for
international business travelers as well as for business transferees
and their families. Part of Berlitz’ cross-cultural training covers
global business seminars that provide essential information on the
business customs and practices of most any country, relocation training
and repatriation training.
Command of the Language
Another option for learning a language for business is to enroll
at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, which offers
a new Spanish language program customized for specific industries.
“Command Spanish” is a fast-track program created by Sam Slick,
a Spanish professor based in Mississippi. The creator stipulated
this program was to be offered through community colleges so it
could reach more people. The program just became available in Missouri
recently.
“The program was initially offered to law enforcement officials,”
says Mark Kusmanoff, a certified instructor of Command Spanish.
“It’s so user friendly that we immediately saw the need to use it
elsewhere. We job shadow any industry and learn the specific Spanish
phrases employees and supervisors need in their jobs. Then we can
create a flexible, customized package.”
As a result, Command Spanish programs are available for nearly every
profession including firefighters, paramedics, dentists, nurses,
physician offices, school administrators and teachers, secretaries,
bank tellers, child care providers, and those in the restaurant
and hotel, retail, construction, landscaping, manufacturing and
warehouse industries.
“Command Spanish is different from any other language course,” Kusmanoff
says. “We whittle down the task of learning a language and make
it bite-size and fun. We don’t teach grammar. We burn words into
your brain using muscle-memory techniques and role playing. When
you say a word, it evokes a response. This is not conversational
Spanish. Instead students learn specific phrases needed for specific
industries. We also teach a cultural component, so students have
a better understanding of Hispanics.”
Kusmanoff is enthusiastic about the program. “It makes Spanish so
easy to learn and put to use right away,” he says. “But it’s also
saving lives. In a northeastern U.S. city recently, firefighters
who had just received Command Spanish training arrived at the scene
of a burning apartment. Using their new Spanish knowledge, the firefighters
spoke to one of the victims and found out there was still a little
boy trapped inside. Being able to communicate in Spanish saved the
boy’s life.”
St. Louis Community College at Meramec also offers “survival” Spanish
for specific industries such as horticulture, although it is not
part of a Command Spanish program.
Other schools in the area offer foreign language courses for business
professionals, too. Through Washington University’s University College
Evening Program, students can take individual courses on a variety
of languages including Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew,
Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. Webster
University offers onsite language courses to businesses by request.
Joyce Romine is a St. Louis-based writer and owner of Streamline
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