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Barrientos Spanish Academy: Savoring the First Class

by A. David Dahmer

The Barrientos Spanish Academy offers Spanish translation services and Spanish language instruction to anyone hoping to get a better grasp on the world's second-most popular language. On Dec. 13, the academy, located at 236 Corporate Drive on Madison's east side, celebrated its first graduating class with a fiesta of food, drinks, music, and dancing.

"The academy has been going very well," said founder Julian Barrientos. "I'm very proud of our first bunch who are graduating tonight. Our mission is to teach Spanish, and the success of a student learning Spanish is the success of the academy. To learn another language is not easy."

At the event, Barrientos recited the poem “Volveran Las Oscuras Golondrinas” (“The Dark Swallows Will Return”). Rolando Barrientos, an instructor at the academy and a professional recording artist who has had his music aired on Magic at Night, 98.1 FM,  and various other Madison-area stations, played two guitar compositions in Spanish: “Musica con Sentimiento” (“Music with Feeling”) and “Nuestro Amor Es Como Una Estrella” (“Our Love Is Like a Star.”)

Julian Barrientos said his academy tries to distinguish itself from courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison or Madison Area Technical College by offering greater flexibility. Classes are offered seven times a day, six days a week.

"We give personalized instruction," he said. "That's what makes us different from other organizations. Also, we go to the places where people are working and give them instruction. That flexibility is not easily found in other institutions. We have classes every hour on the hour, all day long from 6:30 in the morning to 6:30 in the evening."

Learning Spanish is becoming more essential to Madisonians. The U.S. Census Bureau has reported that the number of Dane County Latinos more than doubled in the 1990s, from 5,744 in 1990 to 14,387 in 2000.

"We're teaching not only the public in general, but corporations [as well]," Barrientos said. "We are teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo, and we are having conversations with the Verona School District, wh[ich has] quite a few teachers who want to learn Spanish.

"We're also finding that a lot of physicians will need our services. There is a great need in the community. Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the world. There are about 32 places in which they speak Spanish. Currently in America there are about 30 million people speaking Spanish — that's more than the population of Argentina or Chile."

Barrientos earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Universidad Technica, Oruro, Bolivia, and a master's in civil engineering from UW-Madison. After graduating from UW-Madison, he founded Barrientos & Associates, which evolved into a multimillion-dollar consulting firm with offices in a half-dozen cities that helped build bridges, highways, and dams. He and his late wife, Betty, founder of the Ballet Folklorico Tiawanaku in Madison, have two sons, Rolando and Norman, and two daughters, Lola and Rosemary.

Barrientos said that three levels of Spanish classes — 12-week sessions of intensive study — are taught at his academy by native-born Spanish speakers or other qualified professionals. The beginner's course helps students achieve basic speaking and writing competence in Spanish. The intermediate course gives the student greater fluency and writing competence through a grammatical focus on Spanish. The goal of the advanced conversational and written Spanish course is achieving expertise in spoken and written Spanish for conversation, literature, and correspondence. The academy also offers classes in technical English for Latino immigrants.

"We're also teaching English to those who speak only Spanish," Barrientos said, adding that the number of people taking these courses is significantly smaller. "[But] Spanish-speaking people often don't have the resources and money. They can't afford it. Even if they have the money, they don't have the time, as they hold two or three different jobs and work a lot of hours."

The academy also teaches Spanish-immersion courses for children and travelers and targeted language instruction for business Spanish. Translation services are also offered for businesses wishing to communicate in Spanish or Spanish clients who need to communicate in English. The Barrientos philosophy is that Spanish should be taught by immersing students not only in the Spanish language, but the culture as well. The academy features Spanish music, dance, art, videos, and geographical studies of the Spanish-speaking countries of the world. Spanish cultural studies are woven into each course.

Barrientos said the academy uses a special quick teaching method that emphasizes pronunciation and grammar and allows students to learn Spanish at a faster rate than is likely at other institutions. Barrientos and his staff believe that learning Spanish should be fun.

Courses taken at the Barrientos Spanish Academy are not accredited at any college. However, each student receives a Certificate of Achievement, which shows that all classes have been attended and all assignments have been completed. There is no accumulation of points or grades. Students simply need to attend all classes, make up any work they have missed, and complete all their assignments to the best of their ability in order to receive the Certificate of Achievement.

"There's quite the enthusiasm among the people," said Barrientos, who in 1995 was named one of the 100 Most Influential Madisonians by Madison Magazine. "Corporations have a lot of Spanish-speaking people. Seventy percent of the employees at Pleasant Company are Spanish-speaking. So the managers are learning Spanish to have a better communication for the people working for them. They believe that by better communication they increase the safety and gain [the] respect of the people working for them. People will be more enthusiastic and will want to work harder if they feel they are being respected."

For more information, you can call the academy at 301-0087.

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