I say potato, you say patata: as workforce and customer diversity grow, employers offer foreign language training to staff - Training Agenda - language training

HR Magazine, Jan, 2004 by Kathryn Tyler

In 1946, Casa Rio was the first restaurant to open on the River Walk in San Antonio. Recently, the restaurant, still owned by the same family, faced a problem other employers may recognize: Its English-speaking managers were unable to communicate with Spanish-speaking staffers regarding benefits and other issues, says Patricia Hutcherson, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Casa Rio Mexican Foods and Schilos German Deli.

Managers decided to take Spanish classes at the restaurant twice a week, between lunch and dinner, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. "Our staff was excited we were taking the time to learn their language. It created a bond between us," Hutcherson says. "Our general manager has done well. He speaks with the staff in Spanish, and they love it. We're hoping as we continue to learn, we will be able to conduct all of our retirement and health insurance information [seminars] in Spanish and English. The classes gave us more confidence and respect for each other."

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As international commerce becomes more common and the United States becomes home to more non-native English speakers, employers like Casa Rio increasingly need to communicate with employees and customers whose first language is not English. To give managers and employees effective training in foreign languages, employers must decide who should get training, what level of proficiency they need and which instructors best meet their needs.

Whom to Train

In the past, companies would give English as a Second Language (ESL) training to non-native English speakers who worked front-line jobs, says Martin George, director of the Language Training Center, a company in Indianapolis. Now, more English-speaking supervisors are learning Spanish. It makes more sense to train someone who has a long-term career with the company than to train employees who move on after a few years, he says.

Connie Gyenis, director of Language Plus Inc., a training company in El Paso, Texas, agrees. More upper managers are taking classes, she says. "They are concerned with everyday language, better communication with workers in the maquiladoras [factories] and to chat at business dinners."

For some companies, language training is a matter of safety. "For health care, it is almost unthinkable that an organization would not offer these classes," says Deborah Lance, director of professional development for Erlanger Health System in the Southeast, in Chattanooga, Tenn. "We deal with life and death situations every day, and patient safety and education is vital. We need to be able to communicate with all our patients and families, and foreign language education is one way to help us meet that need."

George describes one client's success: "It was a big company with about 500 Hispanic employees. They were having trouble communicating with one another over simple situations, such as 'I'm going to be late to work because of a doctor's appointment.' We did a 25-week training course of Spanish [for the supervisors] and ESL [for the employees]."

The results? "They reduced turnover and safety issues," George says. "It changed their whole corporate culture."

What Do You Need?

How does an employer launch foreign language training? Assess your needs. "You need to know what the student wants to learn and who his target audience is," says Gyenis.

Harriet Barnett, educational consultant to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, a nonprofit organization based in Yonkers, N.Y., says, "Any employees who come in contact with people [who speak different languages] should benefit from the training. However, not all employees have to function at the same level. Some need more writing skills than others, such as secretaries. Some need more oral training."

Ask employees what they want to say. For instance, Mirtha Jones, coordinator of Hispanic outreach for Chattanooga State Technical Community College (CSTCC) in Chattanooga, Tenn., encourages students in Spanish classes to list workplace phrases that they want to be able to say in Spanish. This helps instructors concentrate on vocabulary specific to the employees' work.

"Our methodology is use-oriented training, not the academic approach," says Gyenis. "What can I do in the language? Can I make that telephone call to set up a meeting? Can I chat with the client about his family? Not just conjugating verbs in a book."

Lance made a similar decision. "We originally offered traditional Spanish classes, including verb tenses and sentence structure, but found what our workers needed was a conversational approach," she says of Erlanger's classes, which run seven weeks for two hours per week.

The classes were, perhaps, too popular at first. "Everyone wanted to take these classes, and we've got more than 4,000 employees," Lance says. "We began by restricting enrollment to nursing and registration staff. Now, we've lifted that restriction and have folks from all roles taking the courses."

Keep Expectations Realistic

Language training experts warn employers to prepare for two common problems: unrealistic expectations and lack of study time.