Taking a year for to study Spanish.

[azuka]

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I'm on spanish beginner level. Currently using a software to learn spanish but has been really difficult with third year. I wanted to find out if it is advisable to take a year off to live in spain and learn spanish? Is it worth it? Is it possible to put the school loan on hold while doing that so that one does not need to start repayment? How should I schedule my fourth year elective in this case?

 

[jowen88]

i can't remember if there is a special name for the scholarship, but I believe the US government will fund 1-2 year long studies of most major languages; however, I know spanish and french require at least an advanced beginner/intermediate level understanding. look up boren scholarship, or national defense language scholarship/critical language fellowship...the great thing here being if you get the gov't to give you the fellowship, you'd have a (i'd guess) better chance at getting loans deferred

edit: check out Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships + (your university or large public university nearest to you/associated with your school) I believe this is the one where you'd have the best chance with getting spanish approved

 

[Trastuz]

I'm on spanish beginner level. Currently using a software to learn spanish but has been really difficult with third year. I wanted to find out if it is advisable to take a year off to live in spain and learn spanish? Is it worth it? Is it possible to put the school loan on hold while doing that so that one does not need to start repayment? How should I schedule my fourth year elective in this case?

Don't know what your goals are so hard to answer the "is it worth it" question. If your motive is to serve under served Latino populations or something maybe a good idea. If you just want to do it cause you've always wanted to, may be harder to explain but might still be worth it.

Professionally it probably won't lend you a huge advantage unless you have a target population like I mentioned or if you plan on being an FP in Galveston. I speak Spanish and live in a fairly latino saturated city and I rarely used it as a med student. There are interpreters everywhere - they're easy to find and even if you're good at Spanish, they'll always be way better than you because of cultural differences, slang, etc.

Don't have any insight RE: financing but I agree the only REAL way to learn a language is to go somewhere you have to use it to survive. Also, I don't feel like speaking Spanish by itself really gave me much of an advantage when applying for residency. I doubt you're planning to do it just for that but it's not THAT helpful, just FYI.

 

[theshellyb]

I think an important thing to think about is, do you really need an entire year to get where you want to be, language-wise? An OB I worked with over the summer spoke pretty fluent Spanish, and she learned it on a 6- or 8-week immersion program she did during her 4th year. Something like this maybe: http://www.cachamsi.com/index.html or this http://www.isls.com/schools/medicalspanish.php (Just what popped up on Google after a quick search, I haven't had experience with either)

The OB I worked with sounded like she exercised her Spanish pretty well since then, but she was able to handle basic exams with patients and say things like "Everything looks good!". Unless you hope to be 100% fluent to the point where you're passing the medical translator exam, then a 6 or 8 week elective might be enough for you. (BTW, some hospitals would want for you - on the record- to have passed the fluency exam when seeing Spanish speaking patients, though I see people bumble through appointments all the time without it because it can take so long for a translator to get there).

 

[Perrotfish]

I think an important thing to think about is, do you really need an entire year to get where you want to be, language-wise? An OB I worked with over the summer spoke pretty fluent Spanish, and she learned it on a 6- or 8-week immersion program she did during her 4th year. Something like this maybe: http://www.cachamsi.com/index.html or this http://www.isls.com/schools/medicalspanish.php (Just what popped up on Google after a quick search, I haven't had experience with either)

The OB I worked with sounded like she exercised her Spanish pretty well since then, but she was able to handle basic exams with patients and say things like "Everything looks good!". Unless you hope to be 100% fluent to the point where you're passing the medical translator exam, then a 6 or 8 week elective might be enough for you. (BTW, some hospitals would want for you - on the record- to have passed the fluency exam when seeing Spanish speaking patients, though I see people bumble through appointments all the time without it because it can take so long for a translator to get there).

I'll second this. A 16 week immersion program with www.ecela.com was enough that I have been able to function without a translator for admissions and morning rounds (though not consents), and I think I would have been good enough to at least check up on everyone in the morning after just 8 weeks. Your school will probably let you use your elective time for this, especially if you spend some of your time at a Spanish speaking hospital rather than just a language school.

Another alternative is to enroll in a language school on Skype during 4th year when the educational load gets lighter. I learned a good amount of thai that way. Lessons run $8/hr and its pretty much like the live course in another country and way cheaper. 2 hours a day of that plus a single month in a Spanish speaking hospital or clinic will probably get you there

 

[FIREitUP]

I'll second this. A 16 week immersion program with www.ecela.com was enough that I have been able to function without a translator for admissions and morning rounds (though not consents), and I think I would have been good enough to at least check up on everyone in the morning after just 8 weeks. Your school will probably let you use your elective time for this, especially if you spend some of your time at a Spanish speaking hospital rather than just a language school.

Another alternative is to enroll in a language school on Skype during 4th year when the educational load gets lighter. I learned a good amount of thai that way. Lessons run $8/hr and its pretty much like the live course in another country and way cheaper. 2 hours a day of that plus a single month in a Spanish speaking hospital or clinic will probably get you there

thanks for posting this. i'll have to do this immersion program during fourth year.

 

[StIGMA]

I'd recommend that you master English first unless you have a stressing professional need to know Spanish. There are problems with all but two sentences that you wrote.

 

[azuka]

a

 

[azuka]

I'd recommend that you master English first unless you have a stressing professional need to know Spanish. There are problems with all but two sentences that you wrote.

Sorry, I'm studying Medicine NOT english. And my goal is to reach out to my patients. Now, if you can be helpful, just get lost. I do not need your arrogant input.

 

[azuka]

thanks for posting this. i'll have to do this immersion program during fourth year.

Thank you very much for the reply. I would do just that during my fourth year.

 

[StIGMA]

Sorry, I'm studying Medicine NOT english. And my goal is to reach out to my patients. Now, if you can be helpful, just get lost. I do not need your arrogant input.

I gave you a relevant opinion. Why would you want me to get lost if I am being helpful?

All professionals, including doctors, should be able to utilize basic grammar rules. So should every college student and, in a perfect world, high school graduate. Your colleagues and patients will question the medical opinion of someone who cannot write properly. I know I do.

As I initially said, if you need to know Spanish, then learn it. However, I believe there are other things that you (and others for whom English is not a first language but practice in the US) should consider.

 

[azuka]

I gave you a relevant opinion. Why would you want me to get lost if I am being helpful?

All professionals, including doctors, should be able to utilize basic grammar rules. So should every college student and, in a perfect world, high school graduate. Your colleagues and patients will question the medical opinion of someone who cannot write properly. I know I do.

As I initially said, if you need to know Spanish, then learn it. However, I believe there are other things that you (and others for whom English is not a first language but practice in the US) should consider.

Well my dear, my english is good enough for the practice of medicine, and I have not had a problem with it so far. Secondly, If I needed input about my english, I would have asked for that. There is a reason we have professionals in the english language and literature. Now, if I was writing a paper or presenting on a subject, then my grammatical error would be important. That is not what I'm doing here. FYI, English is my first language. I just speak 3 other languages.

 

[Staradmiral]

Be Careful, I have talked to program directors who straight up stated to me that they throw out any applications that took a year off. Unless you had leukemia, it may look bad to take a year off. If your going into anything competitive, DO NOT take a year off.

 

[ortho2014]

Be Careful, I have talked to program directors who straight up stated to me that they throw out any applications that took a year off. Unless you had leukemia, it may look bad to take a year off. If your going into anything competitive, DO NOT take a year off.

never heard this, many students take a "year off" to do research or get a MPH/MBA/etc which is considered "impressive" now a days, of course if you're going to take a "year off" to sit at home and do nothing, then yeah that'll look bad

anyways, OP not worth taking a year off to learn Spanish, 3rd year is really busy but keep at it during your free time throughout your career and you'll eventually become proficient the more you practice it..you'll have some more free time after interviews your 4th year/summer before residency so take online Spanish classes which are more flexible and volunteer at free clinics in predominantly Spanish speaking inner-city areas..no way you'll become fluent in 1 year anyways so absolutely no need to take a year off to learn Spanish...very low yield

 

[evilbooyaa]

Be Careful, I have talked to program directors who straight up stated to me that they throw out any applications that took a year off. Unless you had leukemia, it may look bad to take a year off. If your going into anything competitive, DO NOT take a year off.

This is true ONLY if you do something "useless" with your year off. Learning spanish may be considered so by some PDs.

However, doing research or getting another degree is not useless and will not cause PDs to throw your applicatino out the window.

 

[Wordead]

never heard this, many students take a "year off" to do research or get a MPH/MBA/etc which is impressive now a days, of course if you're going to take a "year off" to sit at home and do nothing, then yeah that'll look bad

anyways, OP not worth taking a year off to learn Spanish, 3rd year is really busy but keep at it during your free time throughout your career and you'll eventually become proficient the more you practice it..you'll have some more free time after interviews your 4th year/summer before residency so take online Spanish classes which are more flexible and volunteer at free clinics in predominantly Spanish speaking inner-city areas..no way you'll become fluent in 1 year anyways so absolutely no need to take a year off to learn Spanish...very low yield

I'm sure it varies based on specialty and individual PDs, but the ones i've talked to seem to find the MPH/MBA degrees (anything non-PhD basically) basically worthless, as they add very little value to someone that is actually practicing (ie, not trying to do policy/admin/biz/etc). So YMMV.