According to Census Bureau projections, the Hispanic population will account for 28% of the U.S. population by 2060. Meanwhile, Latino’s overall participation in the labor force and purchasing power are expanding as Latino-owned businesses are growing at twice the pace of other U.S. firms. A 2021 study by the McKinsey consulting firm finds Hispanics to be an “economic engine for the U.S.” with the highest rate of entrepreneurship of any segment of the population. Over the past five years, Hispanic-owned businesses have grown by 12.5 percent compared to 5.3 percent for White-owned businesses. Today, about 1 out of every 7 businesses is run by a Hispanic American entrepreneur. The professional certificate in Business Spanish provides targeted language and intercultural training to help students interact with the growing numbers of Spanish-speaking consumers and entrepreneurs in the U.S., with businesses in Spain and Latin America, and with more than 559 million people worldwide whose native language is Spanish.
The Professional Certificate in Business Spanish will be of interest to:
- Students who wish to expand their career opportunities by acquiring the ability to work cross-culturally.
- Students who are considering careers in international business, marketing, management, or human resources.
- Students who want to work with NGOs and government organizations that work with Spanish-speaking countries.
- Business and International Studies students and working professionals who wish to build their language and intercultural skills.
- Any undergraduates are looking to prepare themselves for a competitive global market.
Go to: Spanish for Professional Purposes Certificate Program
Required Courses
- Core Course
SPA 203 Intermediate Oral Proficiency or SPA 210 Spanish for Heritage Speakers - Two Additional Courses
SPA 211 Intermediate Writing Proficiency
SPA 218 Business Spanish
Course Descriptions
SPA 203 Intermediate Oral Proficiency
SPA 203 boosts non-native students’ language proficiency to at least the intermediate-mid level, so that they are prepared for more specialized professionally oriented courses.
SPA 210 Spanish for Heritage Speakers
SPA 210 helps to fill gaps and improve heritage speakers’ written Spanish ability so they can more easily become bilingual professionals.
SPA 211 Intermediate Writing Proficiency
SPA 211 supports students´ continued development of oral proficiency but focuses more heavily on developing their ability to write Spanish in an appropriate way with greater control of structures of the language.
SPA 218 Business Spanish
SPA 218 provides students with technical vocabulary, communicative skills, and cultural insights related to the Spanish-speaking business environment. Through essays, articles, research, discussions, case studies, role-plays, audio and video recordings, and the web, students take an in-depth look at the corporate dynamics of Latin American and Spanish societies.