No love for this in the other forum (didn't realize was posting in forum for students...)
Hello, all. Please forgive me if this is been discussed, but I could not find anything in a search.
I have a question about trying to learn Spanish to help out in residency.
I will be starting in a residency program this summer in the Southwest US, where the Spanish – speaking population is of course quite prevalent.
In dealing with hospital translators in the past, this is effective but incredibly time-consuming and it seems like the ability to talk directly to patients would be a huge asset.
I have looked into ( and attempted to use for some) texts on Spanish for medical professionals, but these are not terribly helpful as they are incredibly basic and this probably would help only in parsing together some barely coherent thoughts with patients and may allow learner to know just enough to be dangerous (And not to mention time – inefficient). Perhaps more importantly, they contain very minimal information specific to musculoskeletal issues and are geared much more toward general medical practice.
I went through Spanish III in high school and was able to speak relatively well with native speakers at that time, but my skills have severely dropped off after being in the Southeast for several years such that attempting to talk to patients in Spanish is no longer terribly feasible.
Has anyone attempted to do this in the past, especially those who have some moderately strong (but not very strong) Spanish-speaking background? Should I just go nuts and try using Rosetta Stone during MSK radiology month and off – service rotations?? This seems like maybe a bit overkill and perhaps a poor use of time and again does not address the issue of learning vocabulary specific to musculoskeletal issues. For what it is worth, I have not heard the best reviews about Rosetta Stone so other suggestions on the lines of that strategy would be greatly appreciated.
Any input would be outstanding. So incredibly excited to start at my program and want to be as prepared as possible to do the best job! Thanks so much in advance!
