By Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Hola! Cómo puedo yo le ayudo? Busca usted un hogar?
Do you have any idea what those words say or how they could help your business?
If not, then you might want to sign up for the Northeast Florida Association of Realtor’s Conversational Spanish for Realtor course ASAP.
What was said was a very simple, “Hello. How can I help you? Are you looking for a home?”
That simple statement could make or break you when trying to get a Spanish speaking customer.
More and more Latins, particularly from south Florida, are relocating to Jacksonville which prompted NEFAR to offer a Conversational Spanish for Realtors class to help them learn to speak a little Spanish so they can converse with potential clients.
Even if you can only learn to say “No Español, momento,” a scaled down version of “I don’t speak Spanish, hold on a moment,” it could help your business.
“I think if nothing else, we should be able to do that because there are plenty of Spanish speaking agents around,” said Marti Backus, training director and Realtor with Watson Realty who has been on the NEFAR Educational Advisory Task Force for five years and was very instrumental in getting the course implemented two years ago.
At this time, NEFAR offers the class twice a year for an eight-week period. Classes are once a week.
“It’s a really great committee where we bring up new ideas and suggest things that would help the Realtors,” said Backus. “I felt like people were migrating from south Florida. I feel that in a few years if you don’t have at least some Spanish understanding you are going to be left behind.”
Backus likened the ability to use conversational Spanish with the ability to use cell phones or computer.
“You just can’t do your business without them (cell phones and computers),” she said. “I had a strong feeling that that was going to happen with the Spanish.”
Backus worked with the University of North Florida staff to get the course written and contributed to the terminology in the curriculum.
Before real estate, she was the training coordinator at a large insurance company.
“One of the jobs I did was to coordinate classes through local colleges. When I decided to develop the course, I knew right where to go,” said Backus. “I called my contact at UNF and told them what I wanted to do. They drew up a proposal and I got with a teacher and told her we wanted it very basic, and to streamline it around Realtors in language that Realtors would use more frequently than other people such as talking to a mortgage broker, houses, furniture, rooms and things like that so we could converse a little bit.”
Jon Bachmann of Watson Realty was also on the Educational Advisory Task Force at the time and was one of those who suggested the course.
“The instructor was absolutely super, top-notch,” said Bachmann. “I did not miss one class. It has helped my business. Foreigners appreciate when we try to converse with them in their language. I lived in Europe for 23 years and I have studied six languages.”
NEFAR said they are getting a huge response to the class.
“The course teaches the Realtors how to communicate with potential clients with everyday questions that the Realtor needs to ask to complete the transaction,” said Joy Huber, education director at NEFAR. “The majority of the students has little to no knowledge of the language, but can on completion be able to communicate with a Spanish buyer. Those that can speak Spanish find it very helpful with just the real estate terms. The real estate terminology is very hard to translate into Spanish.”
The course at UNF is limited to 25 students, so the instructors can give the needed attention to each student in the class.
“We always have a waiting list with enough usually to fill up another class,” said Huber. “Twice a year seems to take care of that.”
In addition to the task force suggesting the class, Huber said the Realtors have also expressed an interest in taking a Spanish course.
“There has been a huge demand in our area,” said Huber. “Other associations in South Florida offer the course, but ours is the only one that is geared toward Realtors’ terminology - i.e. ‘Are you pre-approved?’”
Huber said the response to the class is overwhelming and Realtors definitely thinks it is helping them to communicate better.
Though other language classes are not in the horizon, Huber said the Realtors have showed an interest in an advanced Spanish course, so the Education department is looking into that option.
Backus said the course is also really helpful to those of you who took high school Spanish and need to brush up and add Realtor terminology to your basic knowledge of the language.
“Brand new people who have never had Spanish courses will benefit also,” said Backus. “The course is for anyone may have the potential of getting a Spanish speaking customer. It’s not just to be able to talk to those people in Spanish. It’s to let those people know that you are making an effort to reach out to them.”
Linda Tanner, a Realtor with Re/Max Specialists, took the course and gave it high reviews.
“I took the class as I felt it is important to be able to communicate with Spanish-speaking clients,” said Tanner. “It was a very good class and I would recommend it to anyone interested in a basic Spanish language course. I have not had the opportunity to put any of it to use yet, and I feel I need more training to truly be able to communicate, but I think the course is great.”
Though he hasn’t taken the course, Tom O’Connell of Watson Realty in Amelia Island knows how important being able to speak other languages can be.
“When I was on active duty in the Air Force, I was trained in Spanish and French at the Defense Language Institute in preparation for assignments in Panama and Chad, respectively,” said O’Connell. “It has been very helpful to me as a Realtor because of the increasing numbers of south Florida buyers discovering Amelia Island and the number of “snowbirds” we get from Canada every winter. You build an instant rapport with customers if you can ‘Realty-speak’ in their native language.”
Dee Bumbarger, a Realtor with Buck & Buck Realty, attempted to take the course last year, but her schedule just wouldn’t permit the once a week for eight-week commitment.