Basic Spanish for Business Professionals

Quick Answer

A good grasp of the Spanish language is essential for anyone with a career in international business. Spanish is the mother tongue of more than 400 million people around the globe, and businesses are constantly looking for multilingual employees to help them tap into the Latin American and Spanish markets. Keep reading to learn the basic words and phrases you'll need to communicate in a business setting.

Greetings and Farewells

First, let’s take a look at how to greet people and say goodbye to someone in a business setting. Even if you are unable to hold an entire conversation in Spanish, simply putting forth the effort to properly say hello and goodbye in Spanish—along with a firm handshake—will help you make a great first impression.

Spanish	English
Adiós.	Goodbye.
Buenos días.	Good morning.
Buenas tardes.	Good afternoon.
Buenas noches.	Good night./Good evening.
Espero hablar con usted pronto.	I hope to talk to you soon.
Es un placer conocerlo/conocerla.	It’s a pleasure to meet you.
Ha sido un placer hacer negocios con usted.	It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.
Hola.	Hello.
Mucho gusto.	Pleased to meet you.
Permítame que me presente. Me llamo…	Allow me to introduce myself. My name is…

Etiquette

Common meeting etiquette entails greeting everyone with a handshake and addressing people using señor(Mr.) or señora(Mrs.), followed by their surname. Address people in the ustedform, unless they request that you use tú.

Let’s take a look at a snippet of dialogue between a director financiero(CFO) and Sr. Arroyo, a Spanish businessman visiting his company in Seattle.

director financiero:

Buenas tardes, Señor Arroyo. Por favor, permítame que me presente. Me llamo James Brown y soy el director financiero.

Good afternoon, Mr. Arroyo. Please let me introduce myself. My name is James Brown and I’m the CFO.

Sr. Arroyo:

Mucho gusto.

Nice to meet you.

director financiero:

Es un gusto conocerlo. Espero que disfrute su tiempo en Seattle.

It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope you enjoy your time in Seattle.

Sr. Arroyo:

Gracias. Espero hablar con usted pronto.

Thank you. I hope to talk to you soon.

Business Spanish Word Families

If you spend some time learning word families in Spanish, you'll get a lot of bang for your buck. Let’s take a look at some useful word families related to business.

The Negocio Family

Let’s start with the basic word for business: el negocio. El negocio is a countable noun, used as a synonym for company. The plural form, los negocios, also translates as business; however, it is used as an uncountable noun.

For example:

examples
Maneja el negocio desde su casa. He runs his business from home.
Me gustaría hacer negocios con ustedes. I’d like to do business with you.

Negociaris a verb that translates as to do business or to negotiate.

Let’s take a look at some examples!

examples
Negociamos con México y España. We do business with Mexico and Spain.
Se reunieron para negociar la fusión. They met to negotiate the merger.

The phrase de negociosis used as an adjective, and can be tacked on to many nouns, such as cena(dinner), tarjeta(card), escuela(school), viaje(trip), plan(plan), reunión(meeting), and many more.

For example:

examples
Aquí tiene mi tarjeta de negocios. Here is my business card.
Estaré fuera de la oficina por un viaje de negocios del día 13 al 18. I'll be out of the office on a business trip from the 13th to the 18th.

In Spain, the exchange of tarjetas de negocios follows the greetings and handshakes.

Other Business-Related Word Families

It's extremely common for nouns and verbs in Spanish to share the same stem. Here’s a list of useful word families used in the world of business.

Verb	Translation	Noun	Translation
anunciar	to advertise	el anuncio	advertisement
diversificar	to diversify	la diversificación	diversification
emplear	to employ	el empleo,el empleado, el empleador	employment, employee, employer
entrevistar	to interview	la entrevista, el entrevistador	interview, interviewer
fabricar	to manufacture	la fábrica	factory
firmar	to sign	la firma	signature
fracasar	to fail	el fracaso	failure
imprimir	to print	el impreso	form
recomendar	to recommend	la recomendación	recommendation
requerir	to require	el requisito	requirement
reunir	to meet	la reunión	meeting
solicitar	to apply	la solicitud	application
trabajar	to work	el trabajo	job

Let’s take a look at some examples of how these words are used in a business setting!

examples
Me gustaría que nos reuniéramos para discutir el plan de negocios. I’d like us to meet to discuss the business plan.
La reunión comienza mañana a las tres. The meeting starts at three o'clock tomorrow.

Business Vocabulary

Now let’s learn some important business Spanish vocabulary.

Organizational Structure

Spanish	English
el director/la directora	director
el dueño/la dueña	owner
el empresario/la empresaria	entrepreneur
las finanzas	finance
el gerente/la gerente	manager
el inversor/la inversora	investor
el jefe/la jefa	boss/head
la junta directiva	board of directors
el mercadeo	marketing
el obrero/la obrera	laborer
el personal	staff
el secretario/la secretaria	secretary
los recursos humanos(RR. HH.)	human resources (HR)
las ventas	sales

Check out these examples!

examples
Carlos es el nuevo jefe de ventas. Carlos is the new head of sales.
Debería preguntar a recursos humanos sobre sus beneficios. You should ask human resources about your benefits.

Everyday Vocabulary for the Office

Nouns

Spanish	English	Spanish	English
las acciones	stock	los impuestos	taxes
la carrera	career	el informe	report
el contrato	contract	el objetivo	objective/goal
el currículum	résumé	el presupuesto	budget
la desventaja	disadvantage	la previsión	forecast
la empresa	company	la reunión	meeting
la estrategia	strategy	el riesgo	risk
la fecha límite	deadline	el sueldo	salary
las ganancias	profit	la ventaja	advantage

Let’s take a look at a few examples!

examples
Las ganancias de mi empresa están creciendo a un ritmo impresionante. My company’s earnings are growing at an impressive rate.
Rescindieron el contrato sin causa justificada. They terminated the contract without just cause.

Verbs

Spanish	English
aprobar	to approve
aumentar	to increase
ascender	to promote
cambiar	to change
cerrar el trato	to close the deal
contratar	to hire
disminuir	to decrease/to cut (expenses)
invertir	to invest
renunciar	to resign
tener éxito	to succeed

Here are some examples!

examples
Estamos contratando nuevo personal. ¿Estaría interesado? We are hiring new staff. Would you be interested?
Tenemos que disminuir los gastos. We have to cut expenses.

Cultural Aspects

In Spanish business culture, forming strong personal relationships is crucial. Small talk is extremely important, so be prepared to talk about your hobbies, family life, or possibly even fútbol in Spanish. Be friendly, be charismatic, maintain good eye contact, and be on time.

When meeting someone in a Spanish-speaking country—especially to discuss a business proposal or an agreement—you might have a business lunch. Learn how to order in Spanish so you’re prepared!

Are you looking for more work-related articles? Check these articles out!