Importance of Foreign Language

MiamiDAP
Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:09:36 +0000

Frankly, I am not aware of importance of French in Med. School, but Spanish has been openning great opportunities for my D. (3rd year Med. Student). She took only one semester of college Spanish (placed into 3rd year). Her college Spanish was one of her best and most useful UG classes. She was able to speak after this class, although she keep saying that she is NOT fluent. She also has taken Medical Spanish while in Med. School where she palced into intermediate level. One great opprotunity was being selected for the trip to Peru where Medical students (mostly after first year) can actually perform in medical capacity and also are used as translators. They had most applicants than spots available on this trip. She also used her Spanish extansively in one of her rotations where she said at least 60% of patients were Spanish speaking. Keep in mind that I am not talking about any southern state, I am talking about Ohio. So, I imagine that having Spanish is a great advantage at any Med. School. Couple times she also used her other Foreign language, she could undertand it well but has very limited speaking skills. Again, this was not French.