Will I be asked to speak in Spanish during interview?

[thefirerisen]

Hi everyone, hope cycle is going well for y'all.

I marked down 'Fair' as my language capabilities for Spanish. I took Spanish for multiple years in high school and then again to an intermediate level in college. It was once my dream to become fluent but since graduation, I've kinda let go of that a bit. I did mention in my app that I hope to one day become fluent in Spanish and that I'll be working towards that goal.

In terms of my conversation ability, I will not be able to interview completely in Spanish. I have multiple open-file interviews coming up so how should I prepare for this? Should I just brush up on my vocabulary and try to horribly answer questions if I'm asked to respond in Spanish? I do not know whether I'll be able to do this at an appropriate level. Or should I just plainly say in Spanish that I'm still working towards my goal of becoming fluent and don't feel comfortable conducting the interview in it.

I'm already a fairly nervous person, and this is stressing me out even more for my upcoming interviews so any help would be greatly appreciated!

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[GoSpursGo]

No

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Unless you are interviewing in Puerto Rico

 

[Angler]

When we hired attending level docs for permanent positions, we definitely "tested" for those who claimed foreign language proficiency. It was not formal testing. We just recruited one of our docs who spoke Spanish to do one of the interviews. They greeted the applicant in the foreign language, and during the interview (in English) tossed in some sentences in that language. We were quickly able to assess fluency. Our interviews were not grilling sessions, so this was not 100% accurate, but close enough to filter out the embellishers.

Note that Spanish language ability is a great asset to have when looking for a job, so don't ignore it after you get into medical school!

 

[thefirerisen]

Unless you are interviewing in Puerto Rico

I only ask because one of the schools I am interviewing at, another applicant told me that he was required to do part of the interview in Spanish. He put his language proficiency as "Good" so it was the next category.

 

[Goro]

I only ask because one of the schools I am interviewing at, another applicant told me that he was required to do part of the interview in Spanish. He put his language proficiency as "Good" so it was the next category.

My gut tells me that he was being a gunner and ****ing with your head.

 

[ByThe+C]

Spanish speaking native here: My last interviewer of the cycle (I'm 99 percent sure I'm not getting any more IIs) mentioned that they speak Spanish but they never switched to Spanish to test me.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Just be prepared. In many conversational interviews, you may be asked to do some crazy things. As long as you are honest with your abilities, you shouldn't worry.

Asking candidates to do things you wouldn't have others or similar candidates do is highly discouraged. This is not about feats of strength.

Feats of Strength -

This page is an index for doing a wide variety of Feats of Strength, that is using human strength to overcome gravity and objects in ways that most

legendarystrength.com

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

My n=1 is non-native Spanish speaker and Spanish interpretation was main clinical experience. They were ansked about the experience extensively by one NYC school but no interview in Spanish at that school or 10 other schools they interviewed.

 

[MercifulCamper]

One of my interviews last cycle was conducted partially in Spanish at UT San Antonio last year (I put whatever the level is below fully fluent as I'm not medical Spanish certified). If it is on your application its fair game but if you don't put you have native/fluency I doubt they will try to speak Spanish with you. One of my partner's interviews at Baylor was completely in Spanish but she is a native speaker.

 

[BenzeneToluene]

I marked down “Good” proficiency for Portuguese on AMCAS and was asked to speak a couple of really basic sentences for two interviews. It was a little strange though because neither interviewer actually spoke the language. I wouldn’t be worried about doing an entire interview in Spanish though if you only marked “fair”.

 

[Pikablue]

I had an interviewer ask “¿Hablas español [name]?” and I said “si” and that was the extent of it.

 

[Goro]

I was the person who reported that part of my interview was in Spanish, and I can assure you I was telling the truth: I listed my Spanish proficiency as "good" on my application but both the beginning and end of my interview were in Spanish. I interviewed at a lot of different schools and that particular school was the only one that had an interview partially in Spanish, which threw me a bit and is why I mentioned it. I was trying to help a fellow candidate so that in that situation they wouldn't be caught off guard in case it happens to them too. I got an A to that particular school on the first day of acceptances and likely won't be attending anyway, so I don't really have any incentive to mess with their head. I will follow up with the poster individually to try to alleviate some of their concerns.

Sorry, I thought he was alluding to someone he met on the interview trail, nor another SDNer.

 

[pablo213]

I listed Spanish at native fluency and also wondered whether I'd have any of my interviews in Spanish, but that has not been the case for me personally. I've had interviewers from very similar backgrounds to my own but none tried to test me (I did write extensively about my upbringing though so maybe it came off more legit?)

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

No - not if you list your proficiency honestly as "fair". If you'd listed yourself as being at native or near-native proficiency, yes, they might do something like that if they wanted to find out whether you were telling the truth or not...or offering you a chance to show off your strengths. I've heard tales of concert pianists being led to pianos and invited to play and of interviews being conducted in foreign languages.

 

[Diogenes's Barrel]

@thefirerisen I would very much like to go to a Virginia medical school, and I would love to return to my Alma Mater here in Charlottesville. Over confident as it may be given my current lack of interview invite, I am looking ahead and wonder what opportunities the UVA SOM to learn how to appropriately render care to the Spanish speaking population. ultimately, my question is, do you have time to learn or use Spanish in a meaningful way here?