September 28th – “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”
That was a funny and memorable line from Cool Hand Luke, but language barriers can be a serious issue in business. So, how do English speaking winemakers and vineyard managers get help to communicate with their Spanish speaking co-workers? One solution is the Spanish for the Wine Industry Program by Josefina Adriance.
Josefina Adriance is marking the 30th anniversary of Spanish for Business, her Napa-based company providing Spanish translations, classes, manuals, and videos, with a focus on the wine industry.
Adriance taught employees from over 100 Napa Valley wineries and vineyards through her classes, at wineries, her office and in partnership with the Napa Valley Grapegrowers.
“My goal is to create effective ways to communicate with Spanish-speaking workers in vineyards and wineries, and to enhance the Spanish skills of human resources personnel and those involved in wine tourism,” Adriance said.
Since were no books specifically written to teach Spanish with vocabulary and situations pertinent to the wine business, she developed her own program, “Spanish for The Wine Industry”. By focusing on work done in the vineyard, the winery, and the tasting room.
Because the wine industry has a vocabulary all its own. Those who need to translate between Spanish and English may find themselves searching long and hard for the right words for “racking valve” (boca de limpios), “bud graft” (injertar brotes) or “punching the cap” (bazuqueo). Adriance compiled her years of vocabulary research for her wine related translations into the “English-Spanish Dictionary for the Wine Industry ” . This dictionary now is available on-line with audio to include the English/Spanish pronunciation of each term.
A new addition to the Spanish for the Wine Industry Program is her video classes. These Video classes are to satisfy the request of many students who wanted to be able to take the Spanish for the Wine Industry classes at their own schedule and pace.
More information about the Spanish for the Wine Industry program at www.Spanishforwine.com
