Spanish Immersion between 1st and 2nd year?

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Flopotomist

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Hey guys - about to start medical school, and have always wanted to learn Spanish. I currently speak nearly none, and wonder if anybody has had any success with a summer immersion plan. Any specific places to recommend?
 
Between my first and second years, I did a program with Child Family Health International in La Paz, Bolivia. I spoke very little spanish at the beginning (though I had studied French before, which helped a little). It was a great experience and I highly recommend it. You stay with a host family and all the docs you work with speak only spanish so you're pretty much forced to learn it. I'd definitely recommend studying it some on your own before you go. Maybe get some tapes, take a class, or something, or you might be overwhelmed. I took spanish class for 2 hours each day while I was in Bolivia, and I had studied some on my own for about a month before going. I was there for 4 weeks, and by the end I could carry on simple conversations in Spanish. You definitely won't come home fluent, but I think spanish-speaking patients back home will definitely appreciate your efforts!

Here is CFHI's website: www.cfhi.org

feel free to ask more questions!


Diana
MSIII
 
Do the summer immersion thang, but have the equivalent of at least one semester if not one year of college level Spanish.

For someone of average linguistic ability and no background in Spanish, a full time immersion program for three months in Spanish will give you the ability to speak comfortably in simple present, past and future tenses and nail down the regular conjugation of lots o' verbs. Conditional and perfect forms will be dealt with but not to the point of second nature. You will be able to be comfortable with basic conversations, but nothing very complicated.

If you learn these basics BEFORE going down, you get a big boost. You will be able to spend your time with verbal fluency, so that by the end of the summer, you'll have the basics down to the point you don't have to think about it. You'll have the ability to learn about twice as many verbs while you're down there. You'll know your perfect tenses and build enough vocab to talk around things you don't know offhand.

To gain basic ability, Pimsleur is probably the best book/CD series. For software, it's very hard to beat Rosetta Stone.
 
notdeadyet said:
Do the summer immersion thang, but have the equivalent of at least one semester if not one year of college level Spanish.

For someone of average linguistic ability and no background in Spanish, a full time immersion program for three months in Spanish will give you the ability to speak comfortably in simple present, past and future tenses and nail down the regular conjugation of lots o' verbs. Conditional and perfect forms will be dealt with but not to the point of second nature. You will be able to be comfortable with basic conversations, but nothing very complicated.

If you learn these basics BEFORE going down, you get a big boost. You will be able to spend your time with verbal fluency, so that by the end of the summer, you'll have the basics down to the point you don't have to think about it. You'll have the ability to learn about twice as many verbs while you're down there. You'll know your perfect tenses and build enough vocab to talk around things you don't know offhand.

To gain basic ability, Pimsleur is probably the best book/CD series. For software, it's very hard to beat Rosetta Stone.

Thanks for the advice.. I will see what I can do before, not sure how much time I will have while in medical school though.
 
I didn't have any Spanish either and I did a one-week immersion program in Panama City followed by two months just travelling in Central America. I wouldn't say I was fluent by the time I left but I could read the paper and chat with cab drivers, etc. I'm sure if you studied Spanish continuously you'd get pretty good.

Anyway, I liked my program in Panama City, and I have some friends who had a good experience with another school in Quito. You should look for a place that offers one-on-one tutoring.
 
Are there any similar programs CFHI where you are paid for working in a clinic, or you at least break even by them paying for airfare, because it seems like you need to pay a good chunk of money to be apart of these.
 
I went to Guatemala, which has a ton of Spanish schools. Your costs are anywhere from $150-$200/week including homestay with basic meals. This is typically 5 hours of one-on-one Spanish tutoring per day. Alot of schools have other activities like community service and trips.
 
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