Business Spanish Certificate Program

Prerequisite: Intermediate Spanish or Spanish 5

Level: Professional proficiency 

Strengthen your professional Spanish and gain the cultural insight needed to work confidently with colleagues and clients across Spain and Latin America. This practical certificate builds real-world communication skills for email, phone and videoconferencing.

Fully online and designed for working professionals, it offers flexible weekly modules, personalized feedback and a supportive learning community to help you advance your career.

Before you register for this class, please take the Spanish 5 self-placement test. If your score is 11 or below, we encourage you to reach out to the instructor, Silvana Benzoni - benzoni@wisc.edu, to talk through possible learning paths.  As you take the test, ask yourself if you would be able to produce the correct response in spontaneous speech. If the answer is yes for most of the questions, then you're probably ready for the Business Spanish Certificate. Thank you for taking this extra step to ensure that this is the best course for you.

Earn your Business Spanish Certificate in just four months and gain the essential skills to thrive in a Spanish-speaking workplace. With 15 flexible online lessons on CANVAS, personalized instructor feedback and a mock interview, you'll build real-world confidence fast. Connect with fellow professionals through discussion boards and optional live conversation sessions that bring your learning to life.

Key topics

• Speaking professionally
• Composing professional emails
• Discussing your own background and skills
• Gaining vocabulary specific to your professional area
• Understanding business etiquette in Spanish-speaking countries
• Communicating via phone and videoconferencing
• Interviewing and hiring
• Talking about your company’s services and structure
• Creating professional documents

Course outline

Unidad 1: Primeros encuentros

• Formality vs. informality
• Greetings and introductions
• Names/titles in the Spanish-speaking world
• Cultural value of the group
• Review: present tense; saber vs. conocer
• Review: written accent marks

Unidad 2: La formalidad por escrito

• Writing professional emails and scheduling meetings
• Giving personal info by phone; spelling
• Family roles in Hispanic culture
• Business holidays
• Direct & indirect object pronouns
• Hay que for obligations

Unidad 3: La formalidad en persona

• Business etiquette: courtesy & apologies
• Physical contact and personal space
• Conversation norms in Hispanic cultures
• Debate: hispano vs. latino
• Concepts of time in the Hispanic world
• Ser vs. estar

Unidad 4: Las profesiones y la empresa

• Professions, organizations, company roles
• Geography & economies of Latin America
• Gustar and similar verbs
• Definite & indefinite articles

Unidad 5: El currículum vitae

• Resumes/CVs and cultural differences
• Online templates & hiring trends
• Linguistic diversity in Spain & Latin America
• Review of past tenses

Unidad 6: La formación educacional

• Educational systems in Spain & Latin America
• Degrees, study abroad, professional training
• Ethnic diversity in the Hispanic world
• Contrast between past tenses

Unidad 7: La experiencia profesional

• Work experience, volunteering, internships
• Labor crisis & future goals
• Unemployment in Hispanic countries
• Grammar for expressing duration of time

Unidad 8: Redes, tecnología y perfil digital

• Social networks, technology, online professional profiles
• Desired employee characteristics
• Creating a video résumé
• Cultural differences in tech adoption
• Bureaucracy & paperwork
• Impersonal se

Unidad 9: La búsqueda de trabajo

• Job search & job postings
• Employment agencies, job fairs, forms
• Cultural differences in workdays/weeks
• The culture of “connections”
• Formal commands
• Por vs. para

Unidad 10: La aplicación y la carta de solicitud

• Applying for jobs, requesting interviews, cover letters
• Workplace discrimination
• Phone conversation with a professor
• Subjunctive
• Talking about large numbers & statistics

Unidad 11: Preparación para la entrevista

• Preparing for interviews
• Typical questions & strategies
• Asking questions as a candidate
• Hiring personnel
• Gestures & body language
• More subjunctive

Unidad 12: La entrevista de trabajo virtual

• Remote interview simulation
• Technical & audiovisual tips
• Before/during/after interview strategies
• Video interview with the instructor
• Professional protocol
• Future tenses

Unidad 13: Estudio de caso — país y economía

• Case study: choose a country
• Research background, general info, economic/business climate

Unidad 14: Estudio de caso — sector y producto

• Case study: choose a business/service sector
• Define a product/service to solve a problem
• Consider cost, risk, and benefits

Unidad 15: Estudio de caso — consumidor y marketing

• Identify trade associations, fairs, professional groups
• Research competitors & consumer trends
• Develop marketing strategies
• Prepare a concise business case

By participating in this class you will earn:

Explanation of Continuing Education Hours