��ҳ| �鶹��ýӳ��

UNLV will begin offering a new option for Spanish majors this fall -- a track designed for people who plan to work in fields such as business, law, the social sciences, counseling, and medicine.

Where the traditional undergraduate Spanish major concentrates heavily on literature, the new Spanish for the Professions track will focus on teaching students those things they will need to know to work successfully with Spanish-speaking clients and employees.

"With nearly 250,000 Spanish speakers in Southern Nevada, there's a clear need for people in the business community to know how to communicate effectively in Spanish," said Deborah Arteaga, chair of UNLV's foreign languages department, a unit of the College of Liberal Arts. "While conversational Spanish certainly is helpful in that regard, often more specialized language is needed.

"This is one of the primary ways in which Spanish for the Professions will differ from the traditional Spanish major," she said. "Students studying Spanish for the Professions will not only receive instruction in the Spanish language, but also will take specialized courses in Spanish for the Medical Professions, Spanish for Law, Spanish for the Social Sciences, Translation, Spanish for Tourism, and Spanish for Business. These courses will educate students in the particular vocabularies necessary for those fields."

In some cases that will mean teaching students common colloquial expressions in addition to the more formal vocabulary, she said, explaining that in a doctor's office, for instance, it would be important for the professional to know the slang for a particular condition because the patient might not know the medical terminology.

In the Spanish for the Medical Professions course, topics will include hospital, nursing home, and emergency room settings; pediatric and geriatric medicine; mental health; diagnostic tests; and insurance.

Family, property, insurance, immigration, international finance, and business law will be among the areas discussed in the Spanish for Law course.

The Spanish for Business courses will concentrate on such areas as marketing, banking, international markets, and importing and exporting.

Translation will expose students to introductory translation theory, while teaching them how to translate a variety of texts into Spanish.

In Spanish for the Social Sciences, students will study the socio-cultural background of the Hispanic world. Spanish for Tourism will involve an advanced study of vocabulary and specific situations related to the tourism industry.

Another aspect of the Spanish for the Professions courses will be a cultural component, Arteaga said.

"To be effective in a professional setting it is necessary to understand something about the culture of your clients or your employees. Such knowledge is essential for professional interaction and can help prevent misunderstandings."

Spanish for the Professions also is available as a minor for students majoring in other fields.

For additional information, call Arteaga at 895-3431.