Learning Spanish as An Entrepreneur in Colombia

When beginning an entrepreneurial venture, whether it be in Colombia or any other Latin American country, it is important to be aware that the English capabilities are often quite low, if not non-existant, in most cases. It is therefore important to start learning Spanish as an entrepreneur in Colombia.

My first trip to Latin America was in Chile back in 2011 when I was part of a government incubator called Start-Up Chile. The organization itself had English as its working language, but in society at large it was very difficult to get around with English and I had to start learning Spanish just to survive (i.e. be able to buy food).

Colombia wasn’t very different, and if you wish to run a company and be able to negotiate with people, then learning the language at a high level is a must. And I am not talking about the normal tourist Spanish, but on a more academic level. When negotiating you can of course bring an interpreter, but that might be both costly and a hassle.

You will also give a better impression if you have taken the time and energy to learn the language of where you wish to conduct your activities. You will seem more professional right off the bat. Another thing is that if you start learning Spanish as an entrepreneur in Colombia, then this will increase your chances of getting your investment visa approved, since officials can see that you are actually interested in really contributing to their society.

Contents hide
1 Your various options when you want to learn Spanish in Colombia
2 Learning Spanish as an entrepreneur at one of Colombias universities can cost a lot less

Your various options when you want to learn Spanish in Colombia

When choosing where to study you have a few options. You can of course begin with studying Spanish in your home country before going to Colombia, or any other Latin American country, which is also recommendable to begin with. However I find it to be of uttermost importance to also have taken courses within the country itself, and especially in the city in which you wish to conduct your activities.

Why? Because when you study at a local institution then you get to learn all kinds of local terminology which you most likely won’t learn when you study somewhere else. This is also something which aids in collaborating with the locals. Before starting up a venture in Cali, Colombia I had studied several years at a local university in order to really learn the language at a C2-level, including the local terminology. This really helped later on when negotiating with people in this city.

Now when choosing at what kind of institution you wish to study you also have a few options. The first option is to choose somekind of local language school that is set-up especially for tourists and backpackers and the like who will only be in the country for a few months.

If you are only in the country for a few months and want to get up to speed quickly in order to have some basic conversations with the locals then that might be a good option. The positive aspect with such schools is that you can start right away and they are often good at helping you learn the language in a short period of time.

There are new people starting on the same levels as you all the time, so it’s quite dynamic. The negative aspect is however that you can only study there during the length of a tourist visa, since they are not university institutions and hence cannot offer you a student visa. So if you wish to study for a longer period of time to really deepen your knowledge of the language then this might not be the best option.

Another negative aspect that I have noticed, both from my experience in Chile and Colombia, is that these schools often charge a lot more than the universities themselves, since they have tourists as their main target group. 

Learning Spanish as an entrepreneur at one of Colombias universities can cost a lot less

Universities however generally charge less in my experience. The Spanish courses in the universities of course have foreigners as their target group as well, but since they tend to focus a little bit more on people who are living and working in the country, and since the university also of course offer classes in all kinds of subjects to the general public, then they also tend to have lower fees.

The negative aspect is nonetheless that it might not be as easy to jump on a course as quickly as it is with the aforementioned schools. There might also be less options available if you are looking to study at an actual university. If you are going to move to Colombia to invest in enhancing you language skills it can furthermore be a good idea to think of when you go, since then you will get more or less for your own currency.

Spanish students in Colombia.

On the other hand, with the universities you can quite often get a student visa if you wish to study during a longer period of time and really get to know the local terminology at a deeper level. And if you take a diploma from an actualy university this holds a lot more weight for you on a professional level than if you would have taken a diploma at a language school which anyone can start basically, even though the quality of the teaching does not have to be any worse than than at a university. It however gives a better impression on an academic level, a better impression on your clients as well as officials. At least this has been my own personal experience.

When studying Spanish at an actual university you also get a lot of the perks as when you study any other subject, meaning that you get access to the faculty, you get to interact with local people studying other fiels, access to job fairs, entrepreneurship fairs, university workshops and so on.

Hence you get the possibility to interact with the locals in order to build your actual local network, instead of just hanging out with foreign tourists who will be gone in a few months and who have little to no value to offer in terms of networking on a local level even if their company can of course be great as well.

In conclusion, what you choose all depends on what you are in the country to do, but if your aim is to start learning Spanish as an entrepreneur in Colombia, then I would recommend chosing an actual university since it is more cost effective and looks better on both an academic and a professional level. It is furthermore worth mentioning that just taking a C2-diploma does not mark the end of your learning process.

The art of learning a language is something that never stops. This is similar to when martial artists get a black belt; it is not the end but only a new beginning. And the same goes for you when receiving your final diploma.

Johan Bengtsson
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