Global economy necessitates people learn languages
By KERRY SMITH Employment Correspondent, Houston Chronicle
In the world of global negotiations and big-deal signing, speaking the same language, literally, can make or break a client's bottom line.
The value of being bilingual is becoming more and more measurable, as businesses and industries woo clients on foreign soil, and as clients venture to the U.S. to shop for sites to expand and relocate portions of their companies.
In Houston, the ability of speaking both English and Spanish has clear rewards. Raul Gonzales, owner of The Gonzales School of Languages at 7500 San Felipe, has traveled to places of business across the city for 30 years, educating English-speaking professionals in conversational Spanish and teaching Hispanic workers how to communicate in English Gonzales said being bilingual is a huge plus.
"You're clearly head and shoulders above the crowd if you can speak in both languages," Gonzales said. "Just recently, an American company I know of won a giant contract from a buyer in Venezuela over a Japanese company merely because the U.S. firm was able to clearly communicate in Spanish."
"In big international business, you will definitely fall short of closing a deal if you re not able to make a solid effort to communicate in the prospective client's native language."
Not every top-level executive at a U.S. firm needs to practice perfect Spanish before traveling abroad to make a business pitch, Gonzales said, but the executives should know enough non-technical vocabulary to be able to make an effort to chat during a business social event.
"It's so important for that U.S. firm to make the effort to try and speak the language of the company in which they're presenting, even if it's not about the technical aspects of the visit."
Gonzales, whose clients include the Houston Chronicle, Shell, Pride International and Fluor Daniel, generally teaches 1.5 hour Spanish lessons to professionals at their Houston workplace. The sessions span up to 30 weeks, depending upon the proficiency of the class and the level of language comprehension needed to perform their job responsibilities.
"Employees who know two languages generally make more money than those who are not bilingual, particularly in cities such as Houston," Gonzales said. "We focus on teaching conversational Spanish that is practical in terms of what is being spoken in the workplace."
Gonzales said often the companies who travel to the U.S. to discuss a business proposition expect a U.S. counterpart to be able to represent them when they're considering buying a product or service.
"If your firm is courting international firms, you've got to be prepared to make an intelligent impression, and that includes being able to communicate with them not just in your own language, but also in theirs," he said.
At Gulf States Toyota's vehicle processing center in Houston, human resources manager Tracy Chamblee is actively participating in learning Spanish during her lunch hours. Her incentive? To be able to better communicate with the company's accessory installers, whose language of choice is predominately Spanish.
"Several of us began taking conversational Spanish a year ago so we could communicate more smoothly and clearly with our hourly workers." said Chamblee, adding approximately 140 of the center's 40O employees are Spanish-speakers. "We have an absentee hotline for worker to call in if they're not going to be able to come to work that day, and the supervisors often weren't able to understand these phone message without the aid of an interpreter. But now they can understand."
In addition to Gulf States Toyota U.S. employees learning Spanish, about 40 people in the company work force whose language of choice is Spanish are learning English during their lunch hours.
"It's exciting to be able to talk with each other easier, and to build more cohesive team," Chamblee said.
For more information on conversational Spanish classes at your work site log on to the web @ www.gonzaleslanguages.com