Some students have said to me that “business Spanish” is a bit of a misleading concept in some ways, because it suggests something much more difficult than “normal” Spanish. Is the language of business that complicated? Not really! Ok, there may be some sector-specific vocabulary which you may not hear daily, and which requires more concentrated study, but the language itself is the same. In fact, you could argue that colloquial Spanish is actually harder to learn, as many of the pronunciation and grammar rules are bent or forgotten, not to mention there is a huge number of slang expressions that are in every day usage.
So how do you go about learning business Spanish? Well, it really depends on what you want the language for. If you are a beginner, the starting point is the same. You begin with the basics – personal introductions, the alphabet, simple sentences – before moving on to the elementary level language of likes and dislikes, relevant vocabulary, adverbs of frequency and so on. Once you’ve got an understanding of how the language works, you can begin to specialise in your own area of interest and build from there.
Below are a few examples of what “business Spanish” could look like:
If you want to sell your product to a Spanish customer, you will need to understand how to talk about its features, the benefits to the client, and what further plans you have. You’ll need to feel comfortable asking about expectations, negotiating, and overcoming objections.
Potential language focus areas: adjectives of comparison, present and future tenses to talk about the future, verbs of persuading, the conditional, making suggestions
If you regularly entertain Spanish-speaking clients or colleagues, you may be more interested in asking questions about what they have been up to, how business is going, and perhaps how their families are. You may need to be able to keep a light-hearted conversation flowing, keeping in mind your clients’ interests (football, travel, music or whatever).
Potential language focus areas: present, past simple and present perfect tenses, question words, vocabulary of family, expressing interest, expressing hopes and desires
Maybe you are starting a business in Spain. In this case, you will need to know how to open a bank account, how to write a business plan, the processes for hiring staff and conducting interviews, and how to convince the powers that be that you’ve got what it takes to be a success.
Potential language focus areas: personal and professional qualities, verbs of necessity and the subjunctive, vocabulary of finance, asking the right interview questions
These are just a few of the many hundreds of possible reasons to learn business Spanish. And all of these areas are covered in general Spanish classes too, just with a different focus. Of course, language is fluid, so it is almost impossible to separate out exactly what is required for any given person in any given role. Salespeople will certainly have to know how to schmooze with clients, entrepreneurs will definitely need to know how to use persuasive language, and hotel receptionists may need to know how to solve a crisis.
So, knowing your goal is a good starting point, and building your knowledge into the context in which you work makes perfect sense. But don’t be fooled into thinking that the language itself is in any way harder; in fact, being able to relate vocabulary and grammar to your work is an ideal way to embed your knowledge and be aware of your progress.
Book your lessons now, and see how much you can learn!