Article published in Economic Times in March 2012

1. SPANISH IN INDIA
Spanish: Opportunity or Explosion?
Who is learning Spanish in India these days? If it took you
more than five seconds to answer this question, let us work
on your blindfold. With 329 million native speakers,
Spanish Language has proven to be one of the most
important languages in the business field, due to growing
interaction between India and Spanish speaking countries.
Let´s have a brief look at where India stands at the moment.
In terms of world economic growth, Asia in general has
reached a half way mark from which it will only take us a
decade to become a Global Provider in key economic
spheres such as those related to Sustainable Energy and
Agricultural Products. Keeping this interaction in mind, the
expanding global economy would require a workforce of
471 million. Out of those, 142.4 million would be provided
by India.
Therefore, taking advantage of India’s lower costs and its
educated and English-speaking population,major players
within the international scenario, feel confident about
approaching the local markets. The question is, is the Indian
market fully prepared to face the demand created by the
global economy? This is where the blindfold needs to be
removed.
The integration of Indian economy with the rest of the
world depends on creating awareness within the Private and
Educational Sectors. The Industry needs to restructure its
vision of the future. Likewise, schools need to start paying SERVICES OF INSTITUTO HISPANIA
attention to the linguistic tools that future leaders will
require in order to perform well in business sectors. • Teaching ofSpanish
Delete text and placebooks here.
• State of the art photo
Moreover, Spanish speaking regions such as Latin America
and Spain are specifically seeking bilateral cooperation with
• Qualified Spanish national teachers
India. This approach is opening a world of opportunities for
specific Indian industries such as Agriculture, Information • Placement services
Technology, Telecommunications, etc. and is consequently
leading to the signing of contracts among India and these • Translations and Interpretations
regions that are experiencing similar growth.
• Corporate packages
From the food and beverage to the BPO industry, the
Spanish-speaking workforce is more and more in demand,
but unawareness of this fact is corroding Indian industry
from within.

2. SPANISH IN INDIA
Since the impact of Spanish language has been overlooked, It is time for India to awake: to create a work force that
delegations of future leaders as well as field employees will can cover the demand and sustain growth. As an
have to face a serious linguistic barrier. Contracts are signed, emerging country in the business field, India is able to
but the ones who suffer the most are the specialists in charge of establish business alliances and create enough work
implementation of plans and ideas. Due to the urgency of this positions, but unable to meet such a need: an imperative
demand, Indian industries turn to the only available source of demand for Spanish speaking professionals.
linguistic assets: Indian colleges offering Spanish philological
studies. It is time to introduce linguistic skills to the future
technicians, bankers, insurance salesmen, computer
In the rush to fill vacancies, companies recruit employees from experts, agro-chemists, biotechnologists and school
this Spanish philological background. Subsequently these children. Companies must become visionary enough to
philology students are trained by the companies in the required understand that this time-bomb is hanging above us, and
technical field. the only thing that will help India remove this blindfold,
is a change of paradigm.
But how effective is it to hire a Spanish teacher for a
technical post not related to teaching?. In plain words, it is a
waste of time, money and human resources. From a language
student’s point of view it is an underuse of his linguistic skills
and an inaccurate choice of career. Nevertheless he opts for
these opportunities since he does not possess a clear vision
about the most right area to apply his skills. We end up with
philology students who do not understand the main role of a
teacher in society, and instead try to make a place for
themselves in the business world with the wrong skills.
Today more than ever before, it is important to provide
philology students with the right awareness about the role of a
Spanish teacher. They need to be aware of the possible
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scenarios and audiences where they can find professional
satisfaction and contribute to society in a meaningful way.
These audiences could be school children, technical college
students or businessmen.
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This is the main role of a teacher: to provide the necessary
knowledge to the right audiences and to help society fulfill its
core need. A Spanish teacher in India should be teaching
Spanish, not occupying work positions which belong to
students with the actual technical background. But when Instituto Hispania
companies realize that hiring Spanish teachers is not a good
idea, it is already too late. They end up firing people and Phone:(91) 26968016, 26968043
info@institutohispania.com
importing foreign technicians to fill the vacancies. At a macro
level, India, with a population of 1.2 billion, does not need a
D-59 HauzKhas, New Delhi 110016
larger work force. But the fact remains: Indian professionals
are not given the opportunity to prove their potential at an www.institutohispania.com.com
international level only because linguistic tools are missing.