As a practical matter, Spanish is a relatively easy language to speak because a word sounds exactly as it is spelled. Once you learn the sound of the letter, you should be able to pronounce the word phonetically, if nothing else. The purpose of this course is not to make you fluent in Spanish; rather, our objective is two-fold. First, we hope to provide you some guidance in common areas, such as the courtroom, in dealing with non-native English speakers — primarily Spanish speakers. Speaking louder, slower and with an accent does not improve communication – it makes the speaker look foolish and the listener remains unenlightened. Our second goal is to provide you with some cultural sensitivity and understanding which will enhance the professionalism of your courtroom. With these goals in mind, we have outlined several scenarios below and provided a translation of
particular phrases. We suggest you write the Spanish out phonetically to assist with future pronunciation.

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