If you take a look at job postings, you’ll see that speaking Spanish is a huge asset to many companies and organizations.  In fact, companies hiring for certain positions will require that applicants be bilingual English/Spanish speakers.  But if you are a non-native speaker of Spanish, how do you prove that you speak the language?  This is an especially important question when you realize that people with all different levels of Spanish claim to be fluent in the language on their resume, even if they only took a few semesters in college.

When looking for positions that require that you speak Spanish, make sure that you include the following in your resume if they are applicable:

Extensive travel experience in Spanish-speaking countries

• Periods of time living abroad
• Periods of time working or volunteering abroad
• Previous positions in which you worked directly with Spanish-speakers and in what capacity
• Any formal language instruction that you received

You might be familiar with the TOEFL exam (Test of English as a Foreign Language), which is a standardized exam for English proficiency.  Employers and schools look for scores that certify a certain level of English.  The closest equivalent to this exam for Spanish speakers is the Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera (D.E.L.E.), which offers official accreditation of mastery of the Spanish language from Spain’s Ministry of Education.

The DELEs are given throughout the world in various major cities.  While it may be logistically difficult to take the exam, the accreditation is broadly recognized.  If you are committed to finding a job that’ll utilize your language skills and feel more comfortable touting your Spanish-language skills with an accreditation to back you up, look into getting a D.E.L.E.

Keep in mind that having a diploma is no substitute for real life experience.  While you may score at an advanced level on a proficiency exam, you also must be confident in your ability to communicate with Spanish speakers as they speak in real life.  This is where you can use your previous work experience, time as an expat, or travel experience to highlight your language skills for an employer.

Anyone who has successfully learned a second language as an adult will tell you that it’s not easy, but the more risks you take, the more rewarding the results will be. Rather than looking at the Spanish language as a minefield of potential mistakes, look at it as a journey during which you will explore communicating in a new tongue. And your tongue and mind will certainly work overtime as you attempt to roll your r’s, formulate questions and thoughts, and understand what native speakers say.I always liken learning Spanish to child development: a baby first learns to crawl, then to stand upright, and then finally to walk. Don’t expect to be running a language marathon before you’ve even learned to roll over.

At the beginning, your attempts at communication may seem simplistic. This can be frustrating for adults who have been thinking and expressing complicated ideas in their native language for years, but it’s part of the learning process. Let’s start with a couple phrases that you might try to use that will definitely get a giggle.

You may feel self-conscious and timid when faced with a conversation with a real-live Spanish speaker and you want to let them know. Your first impulse is to share your embarrassment and nervousness so you carefully say “Estoy embarazado(a),” because you want to tell them you are embarrassed. There are several issues with this statement:

• You tried to translate your English thought directly into Spanish.
• You unintentionally used a false cognate, which is a word seemingly similar in English and Spanish, but actually has two very different meanings in each language.
• You just told the listener that you were pregnant and not embarrassed.

What you should have said was either “Me da pena” “Me da vergüenza” (It gives me shame) or “Tengo pena” “Tengo vergüenza” (I feel shame).

When we have few words at our disposal to describe our feelings or we find ourselves making small talk with a new person, what topic do humans often resort to?

If you thought about the weather and our reaction to it, you hit upon the most common topic for idle chit-chat as well as the one with the most probability for mortification for a new Spanish-speaker.

Imagine that you’re sitting in a tropical garden with your new host family and you’re from a cold climate or that you’re sweating through a business meeting with new clients in a Latin American country close to the equator. You decide to open a dialogue about the heat, so you search your brain for a phrase to describe how you feel about the weather. Translating directly from English, you come up with “Estoy caliente.” Your companions either stare at you or hide their smiles behind their hands.

Why would they have this reaction when you simply mentioned the heat? Well, because in translating directly from English, you just told them that you were sexually aroused rather than warm. You should have said “Hace calor,” both of which express that the weather is warm and have no sexual connotations.

Also, beware of the possible sexual connotations implied in doing something as simple as ordering breakfast. You’re probably used to inquiring about whether a restaurant or your host has a particular item in stock by using the phrase “Do you have…?” Beware of using the phrase in Spanish when asking about eggs, as in “¿Tienes huevos?” or the more formal “¿Tiene usted huevos?” What you are asking the waiter or host in this direct translation is “Do you have testicles?,” since huevos is slang for testicles. You’re better off using the generic “¿Hay huevos?” if you’d like eggs.

Next week we’ll explore more common errors for Spanish language learners.

The best method for learning Spanish is total immersion in the language. However, you might not have the time or the money to take an extended learning holiday to ramp up your Spanish skills. And while there are some excellent software programs and sets of CDs that you can purchase, the Internet has a fantastic array of free language learning resources. Below are links to and brief descriptions of a selection of Spanish learning tools.

Community

Palabea: The Speaking World and My Happy Planet are both community oriented sites. On each site, users create a profile and then are able to chat and practice with native speakers of their target language. Both are social networking sites, so the value in using them would come from communicating in Spanish with native speakers and others who are learning the language.

Spanish Slang

If you already speak some Spanish, there are two great sites to explore regional slang. Tu Babel is an online dictionary of slang and regionalisms created by the online community. The “angel” button is a nice feature, and will enable you to block entries that aren’t PG-rated. Jergas de Habla Hispana is another great, constantly growing resource for those seeking to understand the varied and colorful slang of the Spanish-speaking world. Both sites are completely in Spanish, and require a fairly good level of comprehension, but can be indispensable if you communicate with Spanish-speakers and want to really understand the words they use.