learn spanish
The Office of Minority Health has
a publication
on linguistic and cultural competence in health care. Knowing the
language is not the entirety of being aware and sensitive to
important cultural differences, but it is a good start. Tulane
Medical School offers a Latino Health
Elective to T1's and T2's,
where students discuss the issues surrounding the provision of
quality and culturally competent health care to Latino patients. [see
electives page]
In order to communicate effectively with a
Spanish-speaking patient, one needs to have a level of proficiency in the
language. Of course not everyone will have the time to develop native-level
fluency in the new language, and it can be frustrating to make small
gains in vocabulary expansion or understanding of verb conjugation and
grammatical construction in return for a great deal of effort. But if you find
yourself, as you may someday, to be the only health care provider in your
facility who speaks any Spanish at all, even those gains will bear some
fruit, which is another way of saying knowing a few key words and phrases is
better than nothing and you can make a big difference in that patient's
treatment by simply trying your best. This guide should provide you with some
hints to make the most of the effort you are able to make.
The best way to learn a language is to formally
familiarize yourself with the basic grammar and common vocabulary
words, and then immerse yourself: speak it, listen to it,
read it, to the exclusion of your native language. This is, of
course, logistically impossible for most of us with our busy
schedules, but knowing that, any time you are able to devote to
language learning should be structured along those lines:
- If you are a total beginner, just go with the
memorizing-vocabulary approach, learn basic pronunciation rules, and be able
to recognize verbs in their different conjugations. Expect to have to refer
to a cheat sheet (or high-yield medical dictionary booklet) you've crammed
into one of your white coat pockets, supplementing your communication with
gestures and English words as needed. That's fine, it may be cumbersome but it
should help some.
- If you have had high school Spanish which you claim
to have completely forgotten, do as the beginners do, but you can try
higher-level reading to familiarize yourself better with sentence structure
and try to speak Spanish as much as possible. You'll be surprised at
how much you remember, particularly taking advantage of the fact that
you'll be able to understand native speakers better than you can express
yourself. Keep in mind that any Spanish you study will help, even if it's not
health-related, because many (though importantly, not all) medical vocabulary
words are very similar to English (and can always be looked up). Try watching
Spanish-language "foriegn films" and weaning yourself from the subtitles.
-
If you are an advanced speaker don't let your Spanish atrophy!
Watch Spanish TV, listen to Spanish radio, read Spanish in books (short
stories, children's books) or on the internet. And above all, speak it
at every opportunity to increase your comfort in oral expression, even
if you are an excellent reader/writer.
- For everyone working on improving their Spanish:
participate in LAMSA health fairs, come to a Spanish-speaking
potluck with others who want to practice and improve their Spanish, and
take a look at the links to internet resources listed
below. Be sure to enroll in LAMSA's Medical Spanish
courses for medical students at all levels of proficiency!
The internet is a valuable (and free!)
resource for those wishing to work on their Spanish. Think of all the
time you can "waste" when you're on the internet, and that's just the
"English" internet.... Try typing a few words - in Spanish -
about a subject you're familiar with (to maintain your interest
in this exercise) into a Google search. Lo and behold, a long list of
pages will appear: a custom-built reading list! The way you
learned English was by reading it a lot and speaking it a lot and
listening to it a lot. Listening, and especially speaking are time
well spent, but reading is less intimidating, and supplements your
studies well when you can't find people to practice with or
Spanish-language visual/auditory media to
play with. Tulane Medical students have a
summer break between the First and Second years which, for the person
serious about improving their Spanish, can be quite well spent. Remember that
"immersion" thing? It can be done during the summer. There are numerous
programs - shop around - that provide language classes in other
countries, with homestay, sometimes cultural excursions as well. These are
"all inclusive" type programs, or you could simply pick your country and
travel dates, find a (relatively) cheap flight, and go. Once you arrive in
just about ANY major city in Latin America, you WILL find language schools
that teach Spanish, and given the economic reality of most of these
countries, it will most
likely be less expensive than anything you arrange from the States because
there is no agency or company skimming off the top between you and the school.
Stay in a hostel the first few days, and after you choose your local school
(in the main tourist areas or posted in coffeeshops you'll see ads for
schools), they can find you a homestay once you find a program you like/can
afford. Of course, caveat emptor - buyer beware - use your
judgment and be aware that there are people out there trying to take advantage
of careless or naive tourists.
Another option is a little more difficult to
arrange but for those with higher initial proficiency that
don't require classes, can be quite beneficial: finding an
organization
(such as
Fundacion CinterAndes) that accepts student volunteers who wish
to be occupied in using the language all day while helping
their organization. That being said, it will be a
once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the gains you make in an immersion
program can be maintained once you return. If you are considering an
international
externship during fourth year you will get more language
learning out of it with a
higher level of fluency going in.
internet resources
The
internet is chock-full of recursos for learning Spanish but it's a bit
of a disjointed experience, so don't expect a comprehensive, organized online
class - not for free, anyway. Here are a few sites that may be of use. Also
check out the health related sites that are en Español
listed on our Related Links page.
medical spanish course
LAMSA annually organizes a
Medical Spanish
Elective for medical students wishing to take a crash course
in medical Spanish. The class is divided into separately
instructed sections based on Spanish level, and students
familiarize themselves with vocabulary, hold practice
conversations (mock patient interviews) and go over other
pertinent topics. The schedule varies year to year due to
instructor availability and logistic planning, but typically is
four sessions over four weeks.2002-2003 Medical
Spanish will be held 5:30-6:30pm on Wednesdays: January 15, 22, 29,
&
February 5.
Course materials available online:
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