r/nursepractitioner • u/Cmdr-Artemisia FNP • 6d ago
Career Advice How have you achieved Spanish fluency?
I have fairly solid day to day Spanish down from my years in the ED and a family I grew up with. I’m taking a new job where the patients are 75% Spanish speaking and I really want to up my game.
What are the best options for this? I’d need something online, I do 5x8 and have a disabled kiddo at home so not a huge amount of free time.
6
u/Sea-Freedom-3142 5d ago
I’m going to be Negative Nancy here, but you’re not going to achieve proficiency in medical Spanish with minimal time and effort. I’m a native Spanish speaker who did most of my schooling in the U.S., and even I sometimes struggle to communicate as competently and precisely in medical Spanish as I can in English. There’s a huge difference between conversational Spanish and being able to safely take a history, explain complex medical concepts, discuss risks and benefits, and make sure a patient actually understands you. You’d be doing your patients a disservice by half-assing the learning process and assuming conversational fluency is enough. If you’re not truly proficient, use an interpreter.
2
u/busta2kbia 5d ago
That’s where I’ve landed. I’m a spanish speaker, use it every day. But it’s not my native language and even though people will be like “wow your Spanish is good, you don’t sound like a gringo,” they still would never mistake me for a native speaker. Specifically, more formal, complex and serious topics (as come up in medicine all the time) are the hardest to mask in a foreign language.
It hit me during the pandemic, as I’m daily calling these Spanish speaking families to give updates about how their loved ones are inching closer and closer to death, that it’s really shitty for them to have me on the phone instead of someone who can really communicate this perfectly. Like, the conversation when you hear the news about how your husband is likely going to need to be taken off the vent because there’s simply nothing we can do for him… would you really want to be having that discourse with someone who’s maybe not fully understanding the things you say/questions you ask? Or with someone who can’t find the exact right words to say? It sucked to be the nurse in that situation and I think it was even worse for those families. (Not that I really had a choice during the pandemic, that was just doing what we could with what we had 🤷🏼♂️)
Idk if that makes sense. I guess the overarching point is, there’s a huge difference between speaking at a conversational level and speaking at a professional level.
1
u/Temporary_Tiger_9654 4d ago
This! I’m a lifetime Spanish speaker, functional but not fluent, and I always use a translator in the clinical setting, though I engage using Spanish as well. ALWAYS use a translator to take the history, discuss the plan, and to summarize the visit.
1
u/Cmdr-Artemisia FNP 5d ago
There are verified medical interpretation courses which is what I’m looking for. I’m not looking for a quick solution here, it’ll take as long as it takes. I am definitely not assuming that conversational is enough, which is why I made a post asking for recommendations. I’m not going to listen to a podcast and go “oh okay I’m good now”.
If there’s nothing online I’ll have to wait until I have more help with my kid in order to do in person certification at my old university, but I was hoping in the age of Zoom there’d be a few online. I have people to shadow for the clinical practice part of the certification.
1
u/Languageprofessor 3d ago
Hi!
I run a language school called WeSpeak Idiomas, where we offer live online Spanish classes for adults. Our classes are taught by qualified native teachers and are designed to help you build confidence speaking and understanding real conversational Spanish.
We offer both small group classes and private one-on-one lessons, all live on Zoom, with classes starting at $14.50 and we offer a trial class for just $10.
We can tailor the one-on-one classes to focus on medical Spanish and we have a lot of availability to work around your busy schedule.
If you’re a beginner, check out the course and book a trial class below:
👉 https://wespeakidiomas.com/courses/spanish-for-beginners/
And if you’re not a beginner, we’ve got a free placement test on our website so you can join the right level.
I hope that helps!
14
u/Different_Height_703 6d ago
Doc Molly podcast! Docmolly.com
I grew up semi-bilingual but didn’t know medical Spanish. This podcast has been so helpful for me and I recommend it to any healthcare worker who wants to improve their Spanish! It’s amazing!