Best resources and approaches to learn medically useful Spanish?

[FFH]

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Dear mighty and know-it-all SDN community,

Any advice on how to learn medical Spanish? I know there are historical posts on this topic. But things are always changing, so I'd like to start a new thread.

Right now I'm thinking of Rosetta stone or some kind of online class, learn the basics and then go work in a youth hotel/hostel in Peru in exchange for room and board (a good friend did this for a month and had good results).

Big thanks for your input!

FFH

EDIT: I should not that I am a complete idiot when it comes to spanish.

 

[dacas]

Step 1: learn spanish

 

[karayaa]

no need for RS

immersion is awesome as long as you're disciplined

What's your foundation?

medical spanish, in general, is basic/conversational spanish + some basic anatomy vocab (eg common words like ear nose throat) at a minimum. To go up from there, you can go deeper with more scientific/medical vocab (eg words like otolaryngology, the names of diseases, which are usually cognates, rather than just descriptions of symptoms), master all the grammar, and then just work on fluency.
I know docs with both, and they both work fine for them.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Habla con tu amigos en español 😉
Y tambien es mejor si ves las noticias en español.

 

[Gurby]

I'm not sure what Rosetta Stone's system is like, but I have Pimsleur Spanish and it has helped me immensely. It's an audio series that basically walks you through conversations between people, introducing a handful of new words/concepts in each 30-minute lesson. I took Spanish in high school so I had some existing foundation to build on, but I think this method would be more effective for learning even as a total beginner. It's a lot more natural and practical than conjugating a bunch of verbs over and over, or whatever. I do the lessons in the car while commuting.

I sound fluent when I speak now, to the point that when I interact with Spanish-only patients they usually assume I AM fluent, start speaking too fast and I need to ask them to slow down or explain vocab words I don't know.

Aside from doing Pimsleur lessons in the car, I also use DuoLingo sometimes, and I have a cool vocab-building game called Influent ($10 on Steam) in which you basically wander around an apartment and practice identifying 500 different every-day things.

 

[FFH]

I'm not sure what Rosetta Stone's system is like, but I have Pimsleur Spanish and it has helped me immensely. It's an audio series that basically walks you through conversations between people, introducing a handful of new words/concepts in each 30-minute lesson. I took Spanish in high school so I had some existing foundation to build on, but I think this method would be more effective for learning even as a total beginner. It's a lot more natural and practical than conjugating a bunch of verbs over and over, or whatever. I do the lessons in the car while commuting.

I sound fluent when I speak now, to the point that when I interact with Spanish-only patients they usually assume I AM fluent, start speaking too fast and I need to ask them to slow down or explain vocab words I don't know.

Aside from doing Pimsleur lessons in the car, I also use DuoLingo sometimes, and I have a cool vocab-building game called Influent ($10 on Steam) in which you basically wander around an apartment and practice identifying 500 different every-day things.

Being a non native speaker for English, I learned through audio series. I would spend 2hrs everyday listening to some of the parts over and over again for hundreds of times in slow speed first and then normal speed and that was what really helped me. So I think it makes sense for the Pimsleur to work for similar reasons. I would love to be at your level. The vocal building game is on steam? I'll have to check out if there is anything on iOS. Anyhow that's some excellent advice!!! Gracia!!!

 

[FFH]

Habla con tu amigos en español 😉
Y tambien es mejor si ves las noticias en español.

Haha, that would definitely help later on. I probably gonna combine that with traveling to S. America sometime in the summer.

 

[FFH]

Step 1: learn spanish

Step 1.1 to Step 1.20 please?

 

[Pusheen]

I was planning on taking an online community college course on Begininning Spanish over the summer. Not sure how it will go, but it seemed to be the cheapest and most straightforward way.

Any thoughts on that?

 

[BurbyPrep89]

Just joining in on this: took French since elementary school and pretty much only know how to say hello in Spanish. How similar are the two languages/how quickly would I be able to pick up some useful phrases?

Thanks!

 

[dacas]

Just joining in on this: took French since elementary school and pretty much only know how to say hello in Spanish. How similar are the two languages/how quickly would I be able to pick up some useful phrases?

Thanks!

Spanish is my first language, and I took some french here and there, and in my non-expert opinion, they are nothing a like. However, maybe someone who actually knows both can chime in.

 

[BurbyPrep89]

Spanish is my first language, and I took some french here and there, and in my non-expert opinion, they are nothing a like. However, maybe someone who actually knows both can chime in.

Thanks, good to know that!

Has anyone taken a Medical Spanish course in school? Did you feel it helped you prepare to interact in a physician/patient setting?

Thanks!

 

[altitudinarian]

Duolingo can help you get a basis for conversational Spanish. Then I would recommend reading Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Not Forget It and Fluent in 3 Months. Good resources that aid you in self-learning languages. I also believe the State Department might have an archive of its language courses open to the public, which is quite extensive.

 

[Muvis]

I have heard good things about using Pimsleur and Duolingo in conjunction, and there is a decent chance your library has the Pimsleur CDs if you are still associated with an undergrad.

 

[Buddy.the.Elf]

Just joining in on this: took French since elementary school and pretty much only know how to say hello in Spanish. How similar are the two languages/how quickly would I be able to pick up some useful phrases?

Thanks!

I took French in elementary through high school and was practically fluent. I took Spanish in college and worked where I needed to use it on a daily basis (immersion really is the best way to learn/retain it). For me, the two were not much alike at all, save for some similar sounding words. Pronunciation and spelling in Spanish are much simpler, but it was hard for me to get used to the more relaxed grammatical structure of Spanish when compared to French. Also, Spanish uses more tenses more regularly which was somewhat challenging to learn.However, even when I used the wrong tense with Spanish speakers, they understood what I was trying to say, and we were able to communicate.

 

[Holmwood]

Dear mighty and know-it-all SDN community,

Any advice on how to learn medical Spanish? I know there are historical posts on this topic. But things are always changing, so I'd like to start a new thread.

Right now I'm thinking of Rosetta stone or some kind of online class, learn the basics and then go work in a youth hotel/hostel in Peru in exchange for room and board (a good friend did this for a month and had good results).

Big thanks for your input!

FFH

EDIT: I should not that I am a complete idiot when it comes to spanish.

I'd start with basic conversational skills before pasting on medical lingo.


I've tried both Duolingo and Rosetta Stone for the past couple of months. They're both muy terrible.

The problem with Duolingo is that it doesn't teach you adequate conversational skills. Vocab, fine. But we not only need to remember 500-600 words for basic conversations, but also learn in what context they're used.... I've tried it for 2 months, but couldn't get anything to stick to my head for too long.


The problem with Rosetta Stone is that it's redundant, doesn't explain grammar, and is slow in conveying anything with their derpy images. I've tried it for a whole month. They purposely make it difficult for you to simulate "immersion", and it's just frustrating. . .

I'm trying out Michel Thomas at the moment, and supplementing it with Assimil once I finish (which has stories + translation). Seems crazy good so far since I can remember how to structure and vocalize sentences without writing down notes or making note cards. You have to actively participate in answering the "how do you say [blank]" questions or else you learn nothing. He stresses that you do not try to remember by rote memorization and that you do not take notes, which works surprisingly.

 

[Catalystik]

Learning Spanish and medical vocabulary is the easier part of the process. Interpreting rapid-fire speech with accuracy is the harder part. My secret weapon for improving comprehension was watching Spanish soap operas.

 

[The Buff OP]

Dear mighty and know-it-all SDN community,

Any advice on how to learn medical Spanish? I know there are historical posts on this topic. But things are always changing, so I'd like to start a new thread.

Right now I'm thinking of Rosetta stone or some kind of online class, learn the basics and then go work in a youth hotel/hostel in Peru in exchange for room and board (a good friend did this for a month and had good results).

Big thanks for your input!

FFH

EDIT: I should not that I am a complete idiot when it comes to spanish.

Start with a warmup of 3 sets of 30 crunches reps to get that core ready for that Spanish lesson.

To be honest, just know what you want to ask your patients and try to learn those words in Spanish and also learn different responses that they could end up giving you back in Spanish. 👍

 

[The Buff OP]

Learning Spanish and medical vocabulary is the easier part of the process. Interpreting rapid-fire speech with accuracy is the harder part. My secret weapon for improving comprehension was watching Spanish soap operas.