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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Spanish a Required Subject At Many Valley Companies

It’s common knowledge that to advance in the business world fluency in English is a prerequisite for any native Spanish speaker. However, as the Hispanic population increases locally, companies are increasingly requiring their supervisors to possess a working knowledge of Spanish, in order to better communicate with their workers. Accordingly, several community colleges in the area have begun offering vocational Spanish classes, specifically tailored to each industry, in an effort to slowly break down the language barriers that often impede local commerce. According to local manufacturers, getting supervisors and managers to learn Spanish has been a difficult process, as many of them simply expect Spanish speakers to learn English. However, Walter Mosher, the chairman of the board and chief technology officer for San Fernando-based Precision Dynamics Corp. says that at his firm, it’s practically impossible to advance up the ranks on the manufacturing floor without a fluent knowledge of Spanish. “It comes down to the fact that if people can’t speak Spanish they can’t communicate and if they can’t speak English they can’t communicate. I’ve been pushing for Spanish as a second language courses to become as common as ESL courses,” Mosher said. “If you want to be a manager at our firm and you don’t speak Spanish, you won’t get the job, and the managers have to be fluent. Most of our current managers are fluent in both languages.” Certainly Mosher isn’t alone in voicing his desire for more managers to become proficient in Spanish as well as English. E. Kenn Phillips, the director of education and workforce investment for the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, also believes that learning Spanish is just as important as learning English for local workers. “It’s definitely important and it will become increasingly important as the years go on,” Phillips said. “Management needs to hire bilingual supervisors who can communicate with their employees. It’s difficult to communicate otherwise. Without a working knowledge of Spanish, it’s difficult for them to accurately convey the ideas they want to express.” But companies hoping to provide their workers with a basic grasp of Spanish are finding themselves with increasingly more options these days, as various community colleges offer Spanish courses specifically tailored to the needs of each particular firm. One such program, Command Spanish is offered at Glendale Community College. Command Spanish is the brainchild of Mississippi-based Command Spanish Inc., and offers survival Spanish tips for a variety of industries, including Survival Spanish for Law Enforcement Officers, Spanish for Nursing, Spanish for Business Professionals and Spanish for Restaurant Staff, among others. A year ago Glendale College became a licensed official registered provider of the service and since then it has begun to see more companies seeking out their courses. “Survival” Spanish involves the teaching of just enough words and phrases to get by in typical situations. “As a result of these courses, employees are now able to communicate with their Spanish-speaking co-workers and companies are definitely seeing the benefits,” Jean Perry, the chair of the language arts department for Glendale Community College, said. “Companies primarily see dividends in two ways. First, there’s a profit-motivation. Not only will they have more efficiency within the workplace but they’ll also be able to reach out and seek Spanish-speaking clientele. And also companies don’t have to only restrict their hiring practices to bilingual workers, now they can send their students to school for a course that can teach them survival Spanish for the workplace.” Currently, Glendale has six instructors teaching the Command Spanish courses and has even begun teaching some Armenian courses for local businesspeople, a natural considering the city’s large Armenian population. And with a diverse local population, Perry has high aspirations for the program’s future. “These types of courses are only going to become increasingly important as time goes on. I believe that more and more companies are going to want to educate their workers as Spanish speakers become more and more predominant,” Perry said. “We’re hoping to continue to expand it and bring in as many new students as possible.” But Glendale isn’t the only college offering Spanish courses for English-speaking businesspeople, others such as Los Angeles Valley College also offer customized Spanish courses for each industry. “We’ve noticed it getting a little more popular as far as businesses wanting their workers to speak Spanish,” Lenny Ciufo, Valley’s director of job training, said. “It really brings a great message into the business, saying that you’re trying to meet half half-way. It’s an excellent thing to integrate that philosophy into the workforce.”

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