Bilingual Advantages to the Construction Industry

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and emphasize the importance of the Spanish language within the construction industry to construction management students at Cal Poly. Knowledge within another language is also used at an advantage in the industry as it increases one’s value through this key skill, and aids effective team communication on a project. Furthermore, the construction industry is filled with subcontractor’s majority being of Latin-based descent. Though this key skill is not required by companies, this skill can help verbal communication barriers which occur on a project when most subcontractors only speak the Spanish language. Verbal communication is essential in every project as the passing of information is vital towards the succession of any project. Furthermore, the lack of verbal communication due to language barriers can dramatically hinder a project through safety, quality, schedule, labor productivity/efficiency, etc. It is, therefore, encouraged for students to advocate to learn the Spanish language to help bring advantages not only towards the individual, but to the industry itself. This research project will be conducted by handling fourteen survey questions, and to be distributed among all CM students along with anyone who has had a construction internship prior