Thread: On-the-job Spanish training rising in the South

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On-the-job Spanish training rising
By GIL KLEIN
Media General News Service
Monday, June 12, 2006


WASHINGTON - A little "¡buenos días!" goes a long way.

As Hispanic immigrants move into the South, businesses and government agencies find that knowing a little Spanish attracts customers, promotes safety and avoids costly on-the-job mistakes.

Many native English speakers are taking quick classes in workplace Spanish. They're homebuilders in Florida, banker tellers in North Carolina, hotel managers in South Carolina, car dealers in Virginia, librarians in Alabama and police officers and city hall workers all over the region.

"All we are trying to do is mobilize large numbers of U.S. citizens to do small amounts of Spanish," said Sam Slick, president of the Command Spanish, a Petal, Miss.-based company that provides instructors and materials to teach job-specific Spanish phrases.

"They won't be able to hold a conversation in Spanish," he said, "but they can do the job they have to do in a specific, routine setting."

In the Southwest, where Hispanic immigration has been prevalent for decades, many people already have become bilingual. But Spanish-speaking immigrants began arriving in parts of the South just 15 years ago.

"It doesn't take an enormous Hispanic population to create an interest on the part of employers and government agencies," said Tom Situla, president of Workplace Spanish, a Roswell, Ga.-based company that provides materials for teaching Spanish at job sites. "It just takes the problems of everyday life."

The South is the hottest market for both companies.

At Koons Ford in Falls Church, marketing manager Bo Ingalsbe said Spanish-speaking customers often are apprehensive about the reception they will get at a dealership.

He arranged for a Northern Virginia Community College instructor trained by Command Spanish to provide 16 hours of lessons in house to teach his sales staff enough Spanish to help a customer buy a car. For 20 students, the cost was about $2,000.

"It helps when you have a salesman who can say, 'Lo siento disculpe, hablo poquito espanol. Quiero ayudarle.' " Ingalsbe said. That means, "I'm sorry, I speak a little Spanish. I want to help you."

Command Spanish and Workplace Spanish find about 50 key phrases in any job that are used over and over.

"We teach [the phrases] to the level of memory burn so that they become part of the learner themselves," Slick said. "They become automatic, so they know how to say these things at any moment when they have to say them in Spanish."

A nurse will be able to say "I need to give you an injection," he said, and a police officer will be able to say "drop the gun." But a nurse won't be taught "drop the gun" because that is not part of her routine.

At the Dothan, Ala., public library, an instructor taught the staff for eight hours on how to ask for identification and addresses and respond to questions.

Library Director Bettye Forbus said she recently used the instruction to help a Spanish-speaking woman find an address for a courier service.

"In little ways like that, we've found it applicable," Forbus said.

Last month, the state of Virginia certified all community colleges to teach the Command Spanish curriculum with an eye on training emergency

personnel.

"The most important point is health and safety," said Trenton Hightower of Virginia Community College's workforce development services. "When you find someone in crisis, can you save their life or protect your life?"

Once people have a taste of learning Spanish this way, he said, they may sign up for academic classes to become fluent.

At Koons Ford, instructor Linda Schnoor taught the sales force Spanish words for "annual percentage rate," "leather interior," and "new or used." Some sales people picked it up better than others, she said, and the dealership employs a few people fluent in Spanish to help with complicated situations.

"We do repetitive, repetitive, repetitive," Schnoor said. "We take the salesmen out on the floor and put them in that situation they would be in and see what they can say. There is no grammar involved. It's just the things you need to know."

She has taught nurses to say "necesito una muestra de orina" (I need a urine sample), police officers to command, "¡Pongase boca a bajo!" (Lie face down), and bank tellers to ask, "¿En la cuenta de ahorros?" (In the savings account?).

At the start, she said, she calms fears that Spanish will overtake English in the United States.

"Most of these people [immigrants] are trying their best to learn English," she said. "For the sake of safety and the sake of service, we need to meet them halfway. Even if I don't know any more Spanish than this, I have put you at your ease."

Gil Klein writes for Media General's Washington bureau. James M. Cook of Media General's Dothan (Ala.) Eagle contributed to this report.

The only Spanish I care to learn is "Adios." (Sorry, I can't bring myself to add amigos.).

"Most of these people [immigrants] are trying their best to learn English," she said. "For the sake of safety and the sake of service, we need to meet them halfway. Even if I don't know any more Spanish than this, I have put you at your ease."

OH YEAH??!!. Come and live in Miami, then tell me that!!!

ENGLES IS LA LINGUA DE ESTE PAIS. COMPRENDE? ES NECESITA PRACTICARLO. ESTUDIANDO UNA PALABRA UN DIA.

I have no idea if this is correct. What I'm trying to say is that English is the language of this country (even if NOT according to the Senate). Understand? It's necessary to practice. Study a word a day.

They'll be having snow in hell before I say anything but Adios in spanish. They came here illegally. Refuse to assimilate and I'm not going to learn squat that makes it easier for them to keep from doing their part. Cold hearted person that I am. My taxes are doing way more than enough to make their illegal behavior easy so the least they can do is speak English.

Your taxes are paying for Illegals to be spoon fed English !

And they still don't even try to learn.

I am so sick of this. Have you ever noticed that in a Mexican restaurant the waiters pretend they don't know English at all?? We need to take a lesson from them and stop being so helpful.

How do you say "Does the INS know where you are?" in spanish.