languages

[Ayvah, RN]

I was thinking about becoming fluent in another language. However, I want to make sure that whatever I chose, I will use, so that I won't lose it. Can the bilingual/multilingual nurses out there tell me, do you use your multilingual abilities often? And is it often enough to stay fluent in that language? Also, do you find it is difficult to use it due to people from different areas' accents and use of slang? Thanks in advance for the information!

[mandana]

I'm sure it depends on where you live. I was once fluent in French, and never had opportunity to use it, therefore, I no longer speak it. However, I live in Texas, and if I spoke Spanish, I would use it daily. I intend to learn Spanish, it's just going to have to wait a little bit!

Amanda

[enfermeraSG]

I was thinking about becoming fluent in another language. However, I want to make sure that whatever I chose, I will use, so that I won't lose it. Can the bilingual/multilingual nurses out there tell me, do you use your multilingual abilities often? And is it often enough to stay fluent in that language? Also, do you find it is difficult to use it due to people from different areas' accents and use of slang? Thanks in advance for the information!

Depends on where you live, or are planning on living. Overall, I think Spanish works most anywhere. I do use it every shift and I don't have much difficulty understanding differently accented Spanish. It's no different than being able to understand someone with a southern twang or British accent speaking English. Slang may be different, and some expressions - but that happens in English also. You still get the idea of what they are saying. You can look at the demographics of different cities to find out what language may be most useful, or just ask someone who works in a local hospital. SG

[mitchsmom]

I majored in Spanish education back in 1992 & I've used it a lot since I've been in nursing school and I anticipate that I'll use it everyday when I get a job (there are many hispanics in my area).

Unlike 'enfermera' above, I do sometimes have a little difficulty with different dialects. All of my instructors were Cuban and I studied in Costa Rica and I find a Mexican dialect more difficult but we can still communicate (I am very rusty anyway). The hardest thing for me is if someone mumbles or talks really fast. But none of that would detract me from learning a language if I were you. Good luck!

[Brotherbob, BSN, RN]

Can the bilingual/multilingual nurses out there tell me, do you use your multilingual abilities often? And is it often enough to stay fluent in that language? Also, do you find it is difficult to use it due to people from different areas' accents and use of slang?

Spending time on this site is one of the ways I practice my english. The vast majority of movies and tv shows are in english too and I regulary meet people that only speak english . Otherwise reading books and magazines really widens the vocabulary. I still make many mistakes, but I understand others and I can get my point across.

I am loosing my german fast and that is sad. Most germans speak english better than I speak german and I do not have time to read much in the german language anymore. Once in a while I meet a non english speaking german patient, and I am really struggling to communicate.

My advice is to, if possible, spend time with people that speaks the language, otherwise read books and magazines or watch movies (without subtitles) that are really interesting to you.

My experience is that to become fluent I have to have som basic knowledge of the language and then live in that environment and be forced to use the language for at least 3-4 month. To stay fluent I have to use it a few times every month, either read or speak.

Slang can be difficult to understand, but normally the ones using slang can make an effort to talk better if they see that you don´t get it.

[zacarias, ASN, RN]

Hey there,

Great goal to be come fluent in another language. I am bilingual and in the hospitals I've worked at in the past, it's been great because of the large latino population. The hospital I work at now has few spanish-speaking patients and tons of russian-speaking! I dabbled in russian years back and am now getting into it again and loving it. I'm already starting to be able to assess patients in their language. Of course it's a very slow process.

As far as which language to learn, Spanish is the obvious one. However, you may live in an area where Korean, Russian, or Vietnamese would be very useful.

Generally I don't think taking care of these patients is enough to stay fluent in a language. It can definitely speed up language acquisition but there has to be more.

High quality audio tapes, a grammar reference, and a determined desire to learn the language is necessary. Making friends with people who speak your language of choice is also a good idea.

I am all for multilingualism in the US and glad to see others into it as well.

[MomNRN, BSN, RN]

What a great question! I recently returned to hospital nursing after a 4 year venture into school nursing. It is the same hospital I left before. Anyhoo - I would have said Spanish if asked 4 years ago, but recently we have had a large population of French speaking African families move into our community. These days French would be very handy considering the only word I know is croissant.

[student_girl]

These days French would be very handy considering the only word I know is croissant.

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