Spanish for Business with Learning Spanish Like Crazy

Imagine giving a business presentation entirely in Spanish. Or closing a deal after conducting negotiations without ever uttering a word of English? While these may be long term goals if you are just starting out your studies you can see that there are clear advantages in being able to speak fluent Spanish if you deal with companies from Spanish speaking countries on a regular basis. So where do you start?

First things first and learn how to great people. This will always go a long way in helping to forge links and cement relationships. By speaking the language of people you are dealing with you are showing them courtesy and at the same time showing an interest in their own culture and belief systems.

Once you're happy with dealing with people and asking simple questions – asking how they are, about their families and other basic questions that are polite and personal without being intrusive – it is time to learn a bit more.

You may have already picked up some language of the trade you're in just by hearing them, but a useful idea is to find out all the relevant words and phrases to your job in Spanish. Say you sell computer spares for example, you'll need to find the Spanish for memory chips, monitors, hard disk drives etc. And if you're in real estate then you'll need to learn the language appropriate for that.Learning some vocabulary appropriate to your business is one step, but you'll find that using the words can be difficult unless you can get a grasp of the context. This is why it is important to learn more general conversational Spanish so you can really understand what is being said and make an intelligent reply too.While focusing exclusively on the language of meetings can move you forward, it is often better to gain a general understanding of Spanish to be able to understand the position of where the people you are dealing with. Often there are unconscious cultural attitudes that you can't understand, but by going in deep with Spanish you begin to understand not only the language but the culture and people meaning you'll be ready for almost any situation you may find yourself in.º