Notes regarding credits...

This course consists of 40 hours of instruction. However, students may earn 45 hours by attending supplemental sessions and completing additional coursework. Please check with your home university to find out whether you need 40 or 45 hours to earn course equivalents.

Note: A placement exam will be required when you arrive on site.

High Intermediate

This course is designed for students who have completed or tested out of a minimum of three semesters (or five quarters) of college-level Spanish. However, students must take a placement exam to determine the course level into which they will be able to enroll.

Introduction

This course is designed for students with an intermediate linguistic level. The student will have the opportunity to learn about the world of business, commerce, and economy from a theoretical and practical point of view.

Three different areas constitute the foundation of this course: the world of business, commercial correspondence, and business vocabulary.

This course is oriented towards those students who want to have a general vision of the fundamental themes of the business world, as well as for those who want to acquire the necessary knowledge to prepare them for the workforce.

The planned activities will facilitate for the student the necessary formation of knowledge to prepare them for the basic business Spanish exams for the Official Council of Commerce and Industry of Madrid.

Program

Module 1

The World of Business

Theme 1: Business

definition, classification, organization, and purpose of the business

Theme 2: Human Resources

the public and private offer of employment, types of contracts, candidate profiles, unemployment

Theme 3: Commerce

rights and obligations of the business owner, necessary elements of mercantile establishment, auxiliaries of commerce, nature of sales, forms of payment

Theme 4: Marketing

definition and objectives of marketing, characteristics of advertising language

Theme 5: Interior and Exterior Commerce

the import and export of products

Theme 6: Tourism

aspects of tourism, rural tourism, receipt of merchandise and securities

Theme 7: Spanish Fiscal System

direct and indirect taxes, taxes and tributes

Module 2

Oral and Written Production

This section of the course will try to equip the student with knowledge related to business correspondence as well as necessary practices to easily resolve daily situations related to the business and the company. To fulfill these objectives, the student shall carry out a series of exercises whose methodological basis is the focus of the work. The student will encounter a number of exercises that will assist them in the completion of a final project. The contents of this section are as follows:

Reports and their different types
Cover letters, curriculum vitae, and the job interview
Merchandise and service orders, shipment notification
Advertising announcements, applications and petitions
Claims and receipt of merchandise and securities
Service offers and memos
Other commercial and mercantile correspondence

Module 3

Specific Vocabulary for Commerce and Economy

In this section, the student will begin to acquire lexical knowledge related to the areas of commerce and economy discussed during the course by way of a series of texts and exercises.

Bibliography

CENTELLAS, A. Proyecto en Español Comercial. Edinumen, 1997, Madrid.

FELICES, A., RUIZ, C. Español para el Comercio Internacional. Edinumen, 2001, Madrid.

FAJARDO, M., GONZALEZ, S. Marca Registrada. Santillana, 1995.

DE PRADA, M., BOVET, M. Hablando de Negocios. Edelsa, 1999, Madrid.