Multilingual (future) pharmacists out there?

[Hels2007]

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Just curious, how many pharmacists and future pharmacists out there speak more than one language. I speak five, and I have actually used all five of them in a pharmacy (though two of them not because people didn't speak English, but because it made them smile to hear their native language). The pharmacy I work at has quite a few patients who cannot manage even broken English, so my Spanish skills are getting a good workout. 😀 As world becomes smaller, we can only expect more of the same.

Reminds me of a day when a Brazilian man who spoke nothing but Portuguese showed up, and between three of us we spoke French, Spanish and Italian, and tried to figure out what he needed. Fun. 😀

 

[goldenRetriever]

English, Chinese, Spanish, and American Sign Language here!

 

[Corona]

That sucks.... I thought that would set me apart.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Just curious, how many pharmacists and future pharmacists out there speak more than one language. I speak five, and I have actually used all five of them in a pharmacy (though two of them not because people didn't speak English, but because it made them smile to hear their native language). The pharmacy I work at has quite a few patients who cannot manage even broken English, so my Spanish skills are getting a good workout. 😀 As world becomes smaller, we can only expect more of the same.

Reminds me of a day when a Brazilian man who spoke nothing but Portuguese showed up, and between three of us we spoke French, Spanish and Italian, and tried to figure out what he needed. Fun. 😀

I have a story like that too, but we didn't turn out to be helpful.

Here's the run down:
Pharmacist speaks Vietnamese.
Intern speaks French and native African language.
I speak German.
We all speak English.

Customer only speaks Spanish.

 

[Farmercyst]

I speak enough Spanish to survive (food,water, shelter, etc), but not enough to practice pharmacy.

 

[Requiem]

English, French [poorly], German..

 

[hyperioncu]

english,spanish and portuguese, italian a bit challenged.

 

[Asor]

I wish I could speak 5 languages-how cool would that be. I only speak English and Spanish. 🙂

 

[Hels2007]

Nice to see that most people who voted speak at least one language other than their native. 🙂

I haven't shared mine, besides English I speak Russian, German, Italian, and Spanish (though Spanish is not very good, as I only could fit one semester of it into my schedule, so I know my grammar beyond simple present, past and future is non-existent and my vocabulary is limited, but I can hold a conversation and explain a patient their meds - though I cannot always understand their symptoms. I should really carry a dictionary to work with me). I took Latin for a semester in high school too, though I don't count it (it did help out with anatomy, though).

My dream is to speak 10 before I die. Maybe it will come true... I would love to learn Old Norse next, but I am willing to settle for Icelandic or Norwegian... And definitely a non-Indo-European language, to expand my linguistic horizons. Maybe Finnish or Turkish or Japanese...

 

[konkan]

Just curious, how many pharmacists and future pharmacists out there speak more than one language. I speak five, and I have actually used all five of them in a pharmacy (though two of them not because people didn't speak English, but because it made them smile to hear their native language). The pharmacy I work at has quite a few patients who cannot manage even broken English, so my Spanish skills are getting a good workout. 😀 As world becomes smaller, we can only expect more of the same.

Reminds me of a day when a Brazilian man who spoke nothing but Portuguese showed up, and between three of us we spoke French, Spanish and Italian, and tried to figure out what he needed. Fun. 😀

English, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian

 

[esrodems]

When you say speak a foreign language do you mean that you've studied in college or that you actually speak as well as a native speaker. I've known a lot of people who majored in let's say French or Spanish in college or maybe they took a few courses, but I would hardly say that they speak the language, even though they might claim to.

 

[Hels2007]

When you say speak a foreign language do you mean that you've studied in college or that you actually speak as well as a native speaker. I've known a lot of people who majored in let's say French or Spanish in college or maybe they took a few courses, but I would hardly say that they speak the language, even though they might claim to.

When I say "speak" I mean "speak" (surprise, surprise!). As in, can carry on a conversation, can comprehend directions and rules verbally as well as in writing, and can express own thoughts and opinions adequately.

Achieving "native speaker" level is impossible without living in the environment where the language is spoken for at least several months, and that's on top of a solid backing. People who majored in a language and did their work will speak very well, though. Though there are just as many slackers in foreign language department as in any other, including pharmacy. I know some of my former classmates who I would be very, very scared to see in a clinical position.

 

[akaykay]

english, my native language, and some spanish.

spanish comes in handy. I've used it in the pharmacy a few times.

 

[PharmDtoB]

English & Spanish Here 🙂

 

[Chokita]

How did you guys learn so many languages? 😱You are like geniuses. Nice to see folks who speak Russian. Privet! 😍

 

[labrat024]

I speak jive

 

[Hels2007]

How did you guys learn so many languages? 😱You are like geniuses. Nice to see folks who speak Russian. Privet! 😍

Privet. 🙂 I love languages, so to me it was never a chore, always a pleasure. In fact, sometimes the night before a big exam I would still be reading some article about a dialect of a language I didn't know and never intended to learn, simply because I would be fascinated with a certain mutation or a grammatical form. 🙂 If only I had time (read, did not have to work for living)...

 

[esrodems]

I speak French and English. I also took a few classes in Spanish and German in college but have a very rudimentray knowledge of both languages. I learned French because I was a French major in college and started studying it in high school and I also studied abroad twice (once in high school and once in college). I definitely have a passion for learning languages as well and always try to pick up a bit of the language when I travel to a place.

Total immersion is definitely the best way to learn a language. The only problem is then keeping up with it when you don't have the opportunity to use it. Guess I'll have to start going on some more trips.

 

[Requiem]

I speak French and English. I also took a few classes in Spanish and German in college but have a very rudimentray knowledge of both languages. I learned French because I was a French major in college and started studying it in high school and I also studied abroad twice (once in high school and once in college). I definitely have a passion for learning languages as well and always try to pick up a bit of the language when I travel to a place.

Total immersion is definitely the best way to learn a language. The only problem is then keeping up with it when you don't have the opportunity to use it. Guess I'll have to start going on some more trips.

E-Tandem. Google it. You'll get a native speaker of whatever language you want to learn in a day or two. You can speak for free over skype [www.skype.com]. They learn English, you learn their language.