Study Spanish Online at UT Austin
Faculty in the University's College of Liberal Arts teach more than three dozen global languages. Through the Texas Language Gateway (TLG) partnership with University Extension, many of those languages are now available to learners everywhere.
¿Eres bilingüe?
Each summer, University Extension (UEX) offers two online courses focused on Spanish for professionals, providing opportunities for individuals working in business or a healthcare setting to strengthen their communication skills.
Why learn Spanish?
Across the globe, Spanish is spoken by approximately 400 million people natively, making Spanish the second most spoken language by number of native speakers after Chinese. Spanish is one of six official working languages of the United Nations, and it is the second most widely spoken language in the United States.
Learning Spanish can expand your access to more and better jobs, open your understanding of other cultures, and even enhance your grasp of English because a large part of English vocabulary is based on Latin-roots shared with Spanish.
Spanish Courses Offered
These courses are offered online in an on-demand format with no live class meetings. Coursework can be completed on your own schedule, as long as you meet the due dates for all assignments throughout the semester. Exams must be taken on the assigned dates.
UEX courses are open-enrollment, and everyone pays the same registration fee regardless of residency status.
Spanish for Health Care Professions (SPN 367C) - $850
This course develops fluency and precision in written and spoken Spanish, developing previously acquired abilities and basic knowledge that are necessary to communicate effectively in a medical setting with Spanish speaking persons with limited English proficiency (LEP). In this course, we emphasize the development of medical terminology and jargon, the application of daily activities for the medical field through three modes of interpretation: sight, consecutive, and simultaneous, as well as the acquisition of the ethical and cultural competency that is needed to serve as an interpreter. Requires intermediate-to-advanced Spanish proficiency, as evidenced by completion of two years of college-level Spanish coursework and at least one Spanish course in writing, grammar, or literature.
Faculty:
María Luisa Echavarría is an associate professor of instruction in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Born in Medellín, Colombia she completed her undergraduate studies in England and Italy with a double major in Sociology, and Italian Studies from Reading University – and a BA in Economics from Florida Atlantic University. She holds post graduate degrees from George Washington University in Washington, D.C – Masters in Public Administration, and UT-Austin, where she obtained a Ph.D. in Foreign Language Education. María Luisa’s first career was in banking and finance in NYC, where she professionally applied the five languages she speaks, before beginning her academic teaching career.
Business in Hispanic Life and Culture (SPN 367D) - $850
In a globalized world, where multilingualism is highly valued, having economics and business knowledge prepares students to widen their professional horizons in international market and to improve their intercultural abilities in their own country. This course is designed for students who do not have necessarily prior business knowledge; is an introduction to the language and culture of business in the Spanish-speaking world. As a student-centered course, our main goal is to give each of you the opportunity to practice verbal communication and gain confidence in using Spanish in a business setting. Requires intermediate-to-advanced Spanish proficiency.
Faculty:
Mina Ogando-Lavin is an associate professor of instruction in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. M.A.-Applied Linguistic Spanish as a Foreign Language, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija Madrid.
