Teaching Business English and Its Spanish Equivalents
Nina Kisin, Higher Business School of Professional Studies,
University of Novi Sad (Serbia)
Nina Kisin was born in 1988. She graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy (University
of Novi Sad) in June 2011, with the degree in English Language and Literature, BA. She
defended her master's thesis in the field of linguistics in September 2012. In October,
2012 she enrolled in a PhD program at the Faculty of Philosophy (University of Novi
Sad) with a focus on Methodology of Teaching. She is an assistant lecturer at the Higher
Business School of Professional Studies (University of Novi Sad), where she teaches
Business English. She is a member of ELTA (English Language Teachers' Association).
Abstract: This article attempts to compare the terminology of Business English and
Business Spanish. The aim of this article is to incorporate two most widely spoken
languages in the world, that is, Spanish and English in relation to teaching more and more
popular language for specific purposes. The terminology used in this article represents
some new terms from Business English for which the author will attempt to find
equivalents in Spanish. By combining the melodicity and popularity of both languages, an
interesting approach to vocabulary might be established.
Keywords: Business English, Business Spanish, teaching
El Resumen: Este artículo trata de comparar la terminología de inglés de negocios y
español de los negocios. El objetivo de este artículo es la incorporación de los dos
idiomas más hablados en el mundo, es decir, español y inglés en la relación con la
enseñanza de más y más popular idioma especializado. La terminología utilizada en este
artículo representa los nuevos términos de inglés de negocios para el cual el autor
intentará encontrar equivalentes en español. Mediante la combinación de la melodicidad y
la popularidad de las dos lenguas, una interesante aproximación al vocabulario puede ser
establecida.
Las Palabras clave: inglés de negocios, español de los negocios, enseñanza
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1. INTRODUCTION
The reasons why the author of this paper chose to compare the popular Business
English and Business Spanish words are given in what follows, along with the aims of the
article. First, the author of this paper has been learning Spanish for three years, as a part
of an optional course at the Faculty of Philosophy (University of Novi Sad). Apart from
the English language, the author considered the Spanish language to be the most
melodious and interesting language to learn and culture to discover. This opportunity to
incorporate both English and Spanish in an article about a language for specific purposes
came as a long-awaited and a golden opportunity for the author. Second, according to
Nationalencyclopedin (2007), Swedish encyclopedia, Spanish (387 million native
speakers) and English (365 million native speakers) are two most widely spoken
languages in the world. Thus, the purpose of comparing business vocabulary of both
languages might be perceived in an attempt to help Spanish speakers to learn some
Business English terminology and vice versa. The novel terminology is found at
“Professional English Online” (Cambridge University Press). The terminology is found in
the same contexts for both languages which makes the application of two languages in
class easier.
2. ECONOMICS TERMINOLOGY
2.1. Financial Crisis Terms
We will focus on exploring the terminology in relation to the economy, with a
special reference to the economic crisis. The comparison of the words from English and
Spanish that refer to the economic crisis is given in Table 1.
Table 1 Economics Terminology. The Economic Crisis.
THE ECONOMY/ THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
BUSINESS ENGLISH WORD
BUSINESS SPANISH WORD
agflation
agflación
austerity
austeridad
bailout
rescate
bear market
mercado bajista
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borrowing binge
endeudamiento compulsivo
budget deficit
déficit presupuestario
double-dip (W-shaped) recession
recaída en la recesión
fiscal cliff
acantilado fiscal
foreclosure
juicio hipotecario
green shoots
brotes verdes
The Lipstick Index
El índice del pintalabios
As can be seen in Table 1, the terms from English are given along with their equivalents
in Spanish. This can serve as a useful teaching tool which can help an English speaker to
learn Business Spanish words (español de los negocios) and vice versa. This way of
learning vocabulary can be enriched with different texts and contexts in which the words
appear.
As a remark, the students of English as a foreign language in Serbia are truly
interested in Spanish, as well. Since, the class in which we did the comparison of two
languages for specific purposes was an interesting one. The students asked the author of
this paper: “How do we say 'a convenience store' in Spanish?” and the author readily
answered: “La bodega.”
2.2. Teaching business vocabularies in context.
The author would like to make a quick reference to the usage of these words (see
Table 1) and the contexts they appear in. The term “agflation” refers to the rise in food
price. This happens due to the fact that people consume food in greater amounts, or it is
being used for other purposes (biofuels made from corn). The word usually appears in
English in connection with biofuels and whether biofuels should be used or not. By
exploring the Spanish corpus, it has been noticed that the word “agflación” appears in the
same context.
The same is for the word “austerity” (austeridad) that appears in the unpopular
contexts of reducing the costs on the part of governments. This word, for instance, can be
interesting for the students of both Business English and Spanish, since, this is the word
in the news. It seems that we all need a good rescue (el rescate), which is defined in
English as a “bailout.” Many important companies are facing the crisis and cannot survive
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without the support from a government. In El Mundo, the word “el rescate” appeared in
the context of saving the Eurozone: “el rescate a la Eurozona” (El Mundo, 2012).
Bear market (or, mercado bajista) is an extremely popular word among the
students. The author of this paper usually explains this word by using the pictures of a
famous representation of a falling market, a bear and a powerful market, a bull. The bear
market is used within the context of a fall in the stock prices. In Spanish, there is even a
leaflet that deals with “how to survive the bear market,” called: “Permanecer calmado
durante un mercado bajista” (Vanguard, 2008).
These hard times of the economic crisis made us eating less, working less
involuntarily, spending less, but they also made us borrowing more. “Borrowing binge”
refers to a short-term solution. People borrow large sums of money without thinking
about the consequences and thus, become the eternal debtors. This is referred to as
“borrowing binge.” There is an interesting heading in The Telegraph, “Brown's UK
borrowing binge is now dangerous bravado.” This heading combines the term from
Business English “borrowing binge” with a Spanish word “bravado,” which means
showing too much courage. The Spanish word “bravado” became a part of English
vocabulary. The word “borrowing binge” is also used in both languages to criticize
governments for borrowing large sums of money in order to “stimulate their economies”
(Professional English Online, CUP).
Similarly a budget deficit (déficit presupuestario) refers to the relationship
between revenues and expenditures of a government – the difference between how much
a government brings in and how much it spends. This is also easy to remember for a
student of English and/or Spanish, since this is a word that appears frequently in different
contexts. In El Mundo, the word appeared in a context of a deficit in 2011 which was
above all expectations and which went above 8.51%: “El déficit de 2011 supera todas las
previsiones y alcanza el 8, 51%” (El Mundo, 2012).
A double-dip (W-shaped) recession refers to a period of the economic recession,
followed by a period of the economic growth, and, then, returning to a period of the
economic recession. We wonder whether this short period of growth will ever come.
While we are waiting, the journalists in El Mundo are writing about recaída en la
recesión in relation to the empty baskets in hypermarkets. Namely, the turbulent period of
the economic crisis caused a decrease of 3.1% in sales in 2011 for Carrefour, French
hypermarket chain in Spain. It is found in the news as: “La recaída en la recesión golpea
las ventas de Carrefour en España” (El Mundo, 2012).
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Fiscal cliff (acantilado fiscal) is also an up-to-date phenomenon, because it
appears as an increase in taxes and a reduction of costs. The worst is yet to come in 2013.
However, in order to make this quite negative vocabulary more memorable and
interesting to the students, the author usually explains this term by showing a picture of
Wile E. Coyote falling off cliffs in an attempt to catch the Road Runner. The students
laugh at this and they easily remember the term.
Foreclosure (juicio hipotecario) is an uncomfortable situation in which, e.g. a
bank automatically takes away all the property of a debtor because he/she is unable to pay
off his/her debts. The author of this paper usually highlights to the students that if they are
in Spain, this law will be a bit modified. According to the new law, la Ley nueva, people
are given a period of time in which they need to return money if they wish to keep their
property safe. In other words, the property is not taken away automatically.
Finally, something positive. Green shoots (brotes verdes) refers to “the first signs
of economic recovery” (Professional English Online, CUP) after a long time of the
economic crisis. Thus, in March this word appeared in Spanish online newspaper Publico:
“El Gobierno ya ve brotes verdes en la economía española.” The word “brotes verdes” is
evidently very picturesque and useful when it comes to these contexts.
The author wondered if there is any positive side of the economic crisis. It seems
that The Lipstick Index (el índice del pintalabios) represents something positive in spite
of all this chaos. Women adore lipsticks. However, there is also one interesting fact
discovered by a famous American businesswoman, Estée Lauder. The sale of lipsticks
goes up during the economic crisis. The increase in sales is visible in comparison with
other beauty products.
An interesting way to refer to this word is found in El Mundo. Namely, there is an
increase in sales of the lipstick during the economic crisis, because putting your lipstick
on is the cheapest way to look good. As for men, there is an increase of sales of a tie (la
corbata) as the cheapest way to look good at a job interview (El Mundo, 2009).
In one class my students were provided with the article “Los indicadores más absurdos -y
fiables- de una crisis económica” (ibid.). They found it compelling. The presence of
Spanish in business terms was a novelty. We translated some words that appeared in the
article into English (las camareras = waitresses, el nicho = niche, la empresa = company,
los tiempos de bonanza = good times, la comida rápida = fast food etc).
3. THE CONCLUSION
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This article observed the comparison of two most widely-spoken languages in the
world, that is, Spanish and English, respectively. The examples, translation and
comparison of two vocabularies, is a piece of evidence that in one class, while teaching
language for specific purposes, both foreign languages might be included effectively.
This can be done from time to time, or more frequently, however, it is an excellent way to
value and preserve different cultures, as well as to, simultaneously, enrich the vocabulary
and the knowledge of two languages.
References:
“Brown's UK borrowing binge is now dangerous bravado.” The Telegraph. The
Telegraph, November, 2008. Web. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/liamhalligan/3535942/BrownsUK-borrowing-binge-is-now-dangerous-bravado.html Date accessed: 28th
October, 2012.
“El déficit de 2011 supera todas las previsiones y alcanza el 8, 51%.” El Mundo, El
Mundo, February 2012. Web. Available at:
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/02/27/economia/1330361339.html Date
accessed: 29th October, 2012.
“El Gobierno está listo para pedir el rescate.” El Mundo. El Mundo, October 2012. Web.
Available at:
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/10/01/economia/1349123383.html. Date
accessed: 26th October, 2012.
“El Gobierno ya ve brotes verdes en la economía española.” Publico, Publico, March
2012. Web. Available at: http://www.publico.es/dinero/425860/el-gobierno-yave-brotes-verdes-en-la-economia-espanola Date accessed: 28th October, 2012.
“Jargon Buster.” Professional English Online. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Web. Available at: http://peo.cambridge.org/. Date accessed: 25th October, 2012.
“La recaída en la recesión golpea las ventas de Carrefour en España.” El Mundo, El
Mundo, April 2012. Web. Available at:
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/04/12/economia/1334224181.html Date
accessed: 29th October, 2012.
“Los indicadores más absurdos -y fiables- de una crisis económica.” El Mundo, El
Mundo, December, 2009. Web. Available at:
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http://www.elmundo.es/mundodinero/2009/12/02/economia/1259779869.html
Date accessed: 26th October, 2012.
“Permanecer calmado durante un mercado bajista” Vanguard: The Vanguard Group, Inc,
2008. Web. Available at: http://moneywhyslibrary.vanguardeducation.com/sp_mwb_pdfs/33815-8_sp_Bear_Market.pdf Date accessed: 27th
October, 2012.
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