Hola, como se siente?

I finished up geriatrics in September in Chicago and was supposed to start an ER elective at hospital I once was an ER tech in for October. In a strange turn of events, I found out last minute that my rotation was at a non-ACGME site so with 2 business days and a weekend, I had to find new rotation to start Monday. If not, I’d have to sit out a month or travel back to NY in order to graduate on time.

So after tons of phone-calls, emails and prayers, I finally ended up on a family practice rotation here in Chicago in a Spanish-only clinic. At first, my school and the hospital were reluctant to let me start the rotation, reluctant meaning they flat out wouldn’t let me. I took 4 years of high school Spanish and while in NY, participate in a language exchange group, yet my Spanish isn’t quite up to par. So out of desperation determination, I begged to do the rotation in hopes that I would pick up. I have good comprehension since Spanish is similar to Tagalog and Italian, but my conversational medical Spanish is not very good.

Armed with my Medical Spanish dictionary that I picked up at Barnes & Noble on the way into my first day, I struggled through talking with patients on my first day, eventually involving the MA’s to help translate.  For the past week and a half, I have been reading through this dictionary, doing Rosetta Stone and forcing myself to remember my vocabulary. I tell all of my Spanish-speaking patients, “Entiendo mucho pero hablo un poquito de Espanol. Asi que hableme despacio por favor.”  which means “I understand a lot but I speak a little Spanish. So please speak slowly.” My patients’ seem excited that I’m trying to learn and speak their language. It’s amazing how much I picked up and now and doing full interviews with patients and families, and slowly on the road to being fluent!

So this month began as a stressful mess, but has turned into a great opportunity for me to learn more about family practice and to become more bilingual, an important advantage for the future.

“I say things wrong, and you say things wrong. We correct each other to learn.”

“Como estas?” He asked me as I stared blankly at him as if I had never heard the phrase. The man next to me immediately replied, “Muy bien, gracias.” I thought to myself, “Oh yeah I remember this.” I thought long and hard in the seconds before he came around to ask me. I thought to myself, actually I’m not good, I’m just kinda so-so. I took a deep breath and replied “Asi, asi.” Pleased with myself for remembering and glad that I didn’t offer a generic “I’m good answer,” I looked up at his confused face.

I went to Intercambio today. It’s a Spanish-English exchange group that meets on Tuesdays to practice English or Spanish depending on what you are trying to learn. I desperately need to improve my Spanish-speaking ability so that I can communicate better with my patients without having to wait for a translator. I cannot commit to a class because of my changing clinical rotation schedule and since Spanish classes at most schools are not only expensive, but are also hugely time-consuming with lots of written busywork. I need to learn to communicate and with real people that I might see in a hospital on any given day.

I took Spanish in high school but as most of my peers, I took the required 4 years and forgot much of it. I didn’t practice in the real world, except for while ordering Mexican food or while traveling and asking for directions in Spanish-speaking countries. When I moved to San Diego, I eventually tried to practice with my co-workers when possible but I always felt slightly embarrassed by my seemingly gringo accent. I can understand pretty well since it is very similar to Tagalog and Italian, however I have a hard time speaking since I have little practice. So with my remarkable amount of free time after work a couple years ago, I decided to pick up a Spanish class and an Italian class, since I had an upcoming trip through Italy and Spain on my own and wanted to do a little better this time around.

I got really confused during classes since I’d speak Italian words when I was in Spanish class on accident. Since I loved the Italian class, I ended up dropping the Spanish class and haven’t really come back to it until now.

So back to today… I had finished my 2nd day in pediatrics then rushed onto the train to meet my fellow classmates, a handful on people of all different ages and backgrounds all there just to learn and practice. We followed a pretty simple format… Partner up with someone of the language you are trying to learn and you can help each other. We first had a series of pictures where we were to write descriptions of the scenes. I struggled at first since I kept speaking English, which was helpful to my partner but not at all to myself. After being scolded and then moved to a different seat, I finally focused and got down to business. What I wrote down was a mix of Spanish/English/Italian sentences, which eventually my partner helped me fix. We practiced speaking, singing and even played games. After an hour or so, I felt more and more comfortable with speaking and much of it was coming back.

What a unique way to learn and re-learn from someone so different. I really enjoyed this experience and hope that I’ll be able to attend consistently if my schedule permits. It’s a very interesting class. It is nice knowing that I am helping someone else learn too plus eventually will be better able to communicate with my future patients. It’s never too late to learn a language.