Learning another language while in medical school?

[shadowlightfox]

Do you know anyone who has been (or have you yourselves, by any chance) teaching themselves another language while in medical school? When I was working as a scribe in a clinic, the doctor I worked under knew English and Arabic, and taught himself Spanish during rotation, and now he's able to fluently converse with Spanish-speaking patients.

But perhaps he already knew a little bit of Spanish prior to enrolling, and was able to quickly pick up on the rest of the language? His mother was a Brazilian, after all (which reminds me, I forgot to ask him if he knew Portuguese, but I digress). I didn't get the full history behind how he picked up the language, but it was still nice having a trilingual physician.

Also, I really like learning Japanese, and I have come so far in my quest to become fluent in it, and I want to continue. Is it possible for me to continue learning it, or will studying for classes already take up too much time? I obviously have no qualms about prioritizing medicine over anything else, but it would be nice for me to not stop learning, and I don't want to forget all that I have learned up until now.

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[tcon91]

I'll be starting my first year next week so I really don't know what it will be like yet. But, from what I've heard there WILL be some time for hobbies. You'll need to prioritize everything.

Also, there is a thread on this subject : http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/learning-new-language-in-medical-school.1187194/

 

[shadowlightfox]

I'll be starting my first year next week so I really don't know what it will be like yet. But, from what I've heard there WILL be some time for hobbies. You'll need to prioritize everything.

Also, there is a thread on this subject : http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/learning-new-language-in-medical-school.1187194/

Thanks for this. I'll look into it.