The Flexible Business Language Curriculum is a curriculum model designed for customization of foreign language instruction for businesses and commercial organizations. It uses traditional language content areas (grammar and functions) but in contexts less familiar to language teachers. The model is based on the communicative approach, with…

A college course in commercial Spanish is described. The course objectives are to: build a solid foundation of business and professional vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and punctuation; prepare for oral and written communication with commonly-used Spanish business phrases and terminology; expose students to the different types of written…

The University of Rhode Island's business Italian course is an advanced language course whose focus is the Italian business world and its reflection of values, customs, and traditions. The course begins with presentations on salient features of contemporary Italian, such as syntactical simplification and nominalization, and how the social,…

A course in English as a second language for diplomats, offered in Washington, D.C. is described. The course consists of two levels: the first aims at non-native speakers of English with threshold proficiency, and the second is designed for current and prospective personnel in foreign diplomatic services of non-English-speaking countries. The…

Most college curricula in business German are oriented to third- and fourth-year German students. Development of a course in introductory business German designed for the second year of language instruction required careful selection of materials and activities. Texts were selected for their comprehensibility for students with no business…

Business terminology should be included in foreign language instruction because of: (1) the need to be able to operate in an international business arena; (2) an increasingly linguistically diverse population; (3) real-world communication needs; and (4) business transactions being part of daily living. Language instruction must be made more…

A collaborative effort of the business community and Kennesaw College (Georgia) resulted in the development of and implementation of an introductory commercial Spanish course that has been successful in introducing students to business practices in a Spanish-speaking environment. Previously, a translation service had been developed by the…

A college-level course in business Italian was designed to incorporate not only language and business communication skills but also perspective on Italian culture. The curriculum includes study of research, literature, economic trends, and popular culture that reflect the broad and varied role of Italian culture in the modern world. (MSE)

Business Japanese should be the study of Japanese language and culture for business communication and should include values and beliefs and institutional constraints on which the Japanese act as well as business etiquette and terminology. Topics to be covered in instruction will vary depending on the role (seller, buyer, or colleague) played by…

One teacher's experience in developing and teaching a college-level business Spanish course is described. The discussion contains information about the choice of content, level, cultural content, and objectives, and includes examples of instructional activities and class projects. The course was designed to focus on business correspondence and…

A commercial Spanish course offered at Marywood College (Scranton, Pennsylvania) serves both Spanish majors and majors in international business. In addition to language proficiency activities common to most commercial language courses, students have identified two projects as most functional and challenging: (1) a "carpeta" or file into…

An innovative curriculum at New York University (NYU) for teaching business Japanese is described. Theoretical foundations for the approach used are reviewed, including research on language simplification and comprehensible input for classroom learning, the concept of importing the real world into classroom interaction, the role of specific tasks…

The evolution and design of a third-year college course in business Italian are described. Course content includes business correspondence, banking, wholesale and retail transactions. Teaching methods and class activities are also discussed. These include use of realia, small group activities, and letter and report writing. (Author/MSE)

The first part of a discussion of curriculum for advanced business Arabic outlines the need for development of such a course, arguing that traditional courses do not meet the vocational needs of the growing audience for Arabic instruction. The second part describes a methodology for a newly designed course that uses problem-solving and guided…

Suggestions are made for the organization of a business German course. It is proposed that course material be divided into chapters, one per week, each containing five sections. The sections include: (1) a broad selection of typical German business letters exemplifying operations in all branches of export and import, followed by a special…