CONVERSATION FOR BUSINESS AND SPECIAL PURPOSES: SPANISH

Catalog description

This course introduces students to concepts, specialized vocabulary, and social-, cultural- and economic- considerations when engaging in interactions with Spanish speakers in business and other professional settings. Some of the business topics include globalization, types of businesses and industries, organizational structures, leadership, management, personnel, banking and finance, accounting, economics, marketing and advertising, the business office, technology, ethics, and business laws. Topics in cross-cultural communication include etiquette and socio-pragmatic conventions, solidarity and deference, directness and indirectness, language variation, non-verbal communication, personalism, individualism, cultural priorities, management styles, establishing trust, and equality and equity in the workplace. While students will engage in background reading on the business and cultural topics, in this first of the two-course Business Spanish series, emphasis will be on developing interpersonal-, presentational- and interpretive communication skills mainly in the oral and aural modalities. Course materials, activities and assessments will be carried out within the framework of World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (National Standards Collaborative Board) and the “5 C’s”: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities.