Business Language Courses Add Marketability

PROVO, Utah — Jan 06, 2006 — “Buongiorno principessa” may help you get a date, but it probably won’t help you get a job. Taking one of 11 business language classes might.

Not only does BYU have one of the most bilingual campuses in the country, it also offers an excellent selection of business language courses (Bus M 596R). These courses add a business dimension to a student’s existing language skills.

“Students will learn business terms and business cultural aspects of the language that they didn’t learn on their missions, giving them a competitive advantage in the international business field,” says Cynthia Saldanha Halliday, Portuguese business language instructor and managing director of the Marriott School’s Global Management Center.

Because students are already conversant in a foreign language, instructors can focus on advanced business language skills. Class instruction covers everything from résumé writing in another language to foreign business etiquette.

“These classes provide opportunities to learn vocabulary, business concepts and cultural knowledge that will prepare students to function more effectively in an international business environment, and specifically in the countries of interest,” says Robert Russell, chair of the department of Asian & Near Eastern Languages and Japanese business language professor.

Corey Crowell, a 2004 BYU graduate, has seen the benefits of business language courses first-hand. As the president of PAGC, an international consulting arm of International Armoring Corporation, Crowell travels a lot and has opportunities to use his Spanish business language skills — a chance he might not have had without the business language training.

“My business language course gave me an edge in Spanish-speaking countries because the vocabulary is different from what I learned on my mission,” says Crowell. “I would recommend a business language class because it gives students the ability to communicate in an international business setting.”

Students interested in taking business language courses should register on Route Y under Bus M 596R. Courses are open to all graduate and undergraduate students and are offered in 11 languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Italian and English (for non-native English speakers). Because classes are designed to augment students’ already high language proficiency, students need to be conversational in the language (the equivalent of a 300-level language class). For more information, students can e-mail business_language@byu.edu.

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, organizational behavior and entrepreneurship. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.