Any Pharm Student whose native language is NOT English?

[cozypark]

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I am starting PharmD this fall.
And I am almost freaked out 😱 b/c my English is not good enough to express myself in English. (My friends never believed that I was accepted to this program)
I heard Pharm School has lots of group work / discussion/

Any advice is welcome!! Please help me~~~

 

[alwaystired]

I am starting PharmD this fall.
And I am almost freaked out 😱 b/c my English is not good enough to express myself in English. (My friends never believed that I was accepted to this program)
I heard Pharm School has lots of group work / discussion/

Any advice is welcome!! Please help me~~~

Yah, we have a lot of people like you at my school, and honestly, I wonder (all the time) how their interview went. Not that I know how well you speak personally. My advice to you is to speak as much English as you can. The more you practice talking with others, the better you will get.

 

[twester]

Yah, we have a lot of people like you at my school, and honestly, I wonder (all the time) how their interview went. Not that I know how well you speak personally. My advice to you is to speak as much English as you can. The more you practice talking with others, the better you will get.

Agreed - no more speaking the native language. If you continue to mix the two while trying to perfect your English, you will continually lapse into your native accent and mix up syntax and all.

I had the experience of needing to gain some fluency in another language (Dutch). Fortunately the Nederlanders had no problem with correcting other people's language mistakes. It helped a lot to have people call me on bad syntax, word choice or pronunciation. If your ego can handle it, I recommend telling everyone that you are working on your English and would welcome their corrections and advice.

Another thing that might help is to read something like the newspaper out loud for, say, 20 minutes a day. I think it helps develop some muscle memory in speech and your vocabulary will improve as well. If you come across a word you don't know, look it up in an English dictionary.

I never did become fluent in Dutch, but I gave up too soon because I could. You don't have that option.

Good luck,
Troy

 

[gaku]

I am starting PharmD this fall.
And I am almost freaked out 😱 b/c my English is not good enough to express myself in English. (My friends never believed that I was accepted to this program)
I heard Pharm School has lots of group work / discussion/

Any advice is welcome!! Please help me~~~

Well, English is not my native language either and my school has lots of group work too.

My advice is always prepared early.

For example: if I know that we are going to have a group discussion or project, I will always read the materials 2 or 3 times at least 2 days before we actually discuss them. Sometimes, I write a summary for those materials and e-mail to my group members. Most of my group members didn't even bother to read it beforehand. Hence, they give me more respect(even when I can't express myself well in English) because they know I know the stuff and they did not.

Good Luck and Hope it helps!

 

[LiveLoveFartRepeat]

I am starting PharmD this fall.
And I am almost freaked out 😱 b/c my English is not good enough to express myself in English. (My friends never believed that I was accepted to this program)
I heard Pharm School has lots of group work / discussion/

Any advice is welcome!! Please help me~~~

Only one real advise..practise over and over again.don't be afraid to make mistake...you will learn from them...i struggle a while with my english too..and from time to time i still run into people that do not undertand me because of my strong french accent..well i just slow down and everybody is happy..

Working retail has helped me a lot too..since the beginning of my first semester i am working in retail ( last semester)..at the beginning..i managed to stay away from the drive thru and the phone....

and i finally step up into my duties fully..and after many misteps...i am doing just fine now..i don't need anymore to ask people to repeat their name for the fith time...one thing i still do and will do for the rest of my life...is to ask people that speak just too fast to slow down..and it is perfectly normal..they understand and slow down..without problem...I am in the south..so people have an accent here..and their accent+my accent= fun moment sometimes...but i survive..the patients survive it...

just be brave and patient with yourself..you will be just fine....

some people dont realise what some schools' recruiters, interviewers know..is that behing an accent, behind some some words that we have trouble prononcing...there is a smart person, willing as anyone else in the profession to help patients..you don't have to talk to patients to help them ...and there are a lot of settings were we can practise and be valuable...if one is not good at interacting with patients...we still have a lot a places where pharmacists are needed and do not involve having to talk to patients....

 

[cozypark]

Thank you for all precious advice!!!

 

[usi]

I don't have a problem with english anymore, but I will never forget being an akward teenager, stammering words, and laughing at jokes I could never understand.
Continue to practice speaking, but...tape yourself and try to get people to correct you and tell you why they don't understand.
In our PC society, people are afraid if they correct you, they will be considered rude or even racist.
Encourange the people around you to tell you what is wrong with your speech.
Tape your self. and LISTEN.
Most people can not correct something, because theh can not hear it as wrong.
Hardest words for me to say where: wood (I would say good)
differentiate between pronouncing dog and Doug.
and others.

 

[Requiem]

I am starting PharmD this fall.
And I am almost freaked out 😱 b/c my English is not good enough to express myself in English. (My friends never believed that I was accepted to this program)
I heard Pharm School has lots of group work / discussion/

Any advice is welcome!! Please help me~~~

Salut! Bonjour! comment il-allant??

Just kidding.

Honestly, I wouldn't leave my house until I could understand what this sentence meant:

The once pusillanimous intellectual turned belligerent delinquent circumvented the cretinuous drug dealer's wrath.

 

[Mangosteen]

Hardest words for me to say where: wood (I would say good)
.

I know!!! I didn't realized I was saying "wood" wrong until someone corrected me.

English is not my 1st language but I was fortunate my parents moved here pretty early so my brain was still like a sponge and I just automatically picked things up. Typically, if you try to learn another language after you turned 11, you pretty much are going to have an accent, althought there are a few exceptions...

I would suggest thinking in English. It slows you down when you think in your native tongue and translate it to English. Also I used to read a lot and watched a lot of TV with caption on, but I think I learned most of it from just listening to people talk. Be confident when you talk. A lot of time people can guess what you said from the content. That one person's advice on reading the material and writing summaries over it is fantastic, that is if you don't mind the extra work.

 

[TCB]

English is not my first language, I didn't have issue with group projects, but with few classes. You will be fine though; you just have to read questions on your test over and over again... and don't hesitate to call you professor if you just don't understand the meaning of a word on a test... that is what I do.

 

[sdn1977]

Agreed - no more speaking the native language. If you continue to mix the two while trying to perfect your English, you will continually lapse into your native accent and mix up syntax and all.

I had the experience of needing to gain some fluency in another language (Dutch). Fortunately the Nederlanders had no problem with correcting other people's language mistakes. It helped a lot to have people call me on bad syntax, word choice or pronunciation. If your ego can handle it, I recommend telling everyone that you are working on your English and would welcome their corrections and advice.

Another thing that might help is to read something like the newspaper out loud for, say, 20 minutes a day. I think it helps develop some muscle memory in speech and your vocabulary will improve as well. If you come across a word you don't know, look it up in an English dictionary.

I never did become fluent in Dutch, but I gave up too soon because I could. You don't have that option.

Good luck,
Troy

About 10 years ago I met a Dutch pharmacist while I was camping who was here for 5 years while her husband worked for Shell Oil. Obviously, she could not work as a pharmacist here, but over a bottle of wine & a campfire we shared experiences as pharmacistsk - very similar actually.

In CA, you must pass an English fluency exam before you become licensed - usually this is done at the university level, but foreign graduates must pass a similar exam.

Pharmacy is all about education - whether professional or to a patient. To be an effective pharmacist, you need to be able to communicate! Make it a priority & take the advice of others who posted - learn & become fluent in English!