��ҳ| �鶹��ýӳ��

UNLV is expanding its Spanish language offerings beginning this semester with a course titled Spanish for Business.

"This course was developed in response to a need in the Southern Nevada community," said Deborah Arteaga, chair of UNLV's department of foreign languages, a unit of the College of Liberal Arts. "Estimates show there are thousands and thousands of Spanish-speaking residents in Southern Nevada. The need for businesses to have employees who can work with Spanish-speaking customers is obvious.

"To work effectively in a business setting with Spanish-speaking patrons requires more than conversational Spanish," Arteaga said. "Often, specialized language that would not be taught in the average Spanish course is needed. Our new course is a third-year class tailored to bridge that gap."

Felix Vasquez, the professor who developed and is teaching the course, said it also will include a cultural element that will be particularly useful for Americans who will be doing business in Latin America or with people from those countries.

"Misunderstandings often occur in business dealings between people from the United States and Latin Americans," said Vasquez, who is from Peru. "Here people expect business meetings to begin on time and for the business discussion to start almost immediately. In Latin America it is acceptable to be as much as 30 minutes late for a meeting. Then it is expected that the people in the meeting will spend 20 to 30 minutes making small talk. To begin discussing the business right away would be considered very rude.

"Learning such facts about Latin American culture can help business dealings go much more smoothly," said Vasquez, who taught a similar course at the University of Kentucky. "That also applies to managers in this country who have employees from Latin America. If the managers better understand the culture of their employees, they can work with their people more effectively."

Arteaga said additional specialized Spanish courses may be offered in the future.

"I can foresee a need for such courses as Spanish for the Medical Professions, Spanish for the Legal Professions, and a Spanish translation course," she said. "We will be assessing the community need for these and other, similar courses. If members of the public have suggestions on classes they feel are needed, we would be very interested in hearing from them."

For additional information, call Arteaga at 895-3431.