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How many of you in here know somebody or is someone that english is there second language? I speak english almost fluently and have lived here half of my life. I graduated high school with almost a 4.0 GPA. I will be taking my pre-req classes this November for the RN program so here are my questions:

What are my chances making through the RN program?

Have you know anyone that graduated in a RN program even if English is their second language?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele.

lol,

i am german , lived here for 15 years , are now in first semester nursing school . I did not go to Highschool here , and had to do a GED, because our education system is somewhat different. GED was very easy . I did my prereqs with a 4.0 and yes, english as a sec. language, still gives me some problems , but it is doable. I am going to a community college, and I would say that half my class is filled with foreigners. You can do it, go for it.

There are several students in my class who have english as a second language, some who are brand-new to the U.S., and so far they have higher grades than the rest of us! I would think it might be a little more challenging, but it certainly seems do-able!

Good luck!

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

My best friend came to the U.S. when she was 14 and only went to high school for a few years. She graduated from an AA program in nursing. She failed the state board exam the first time, but passed it the second time she took it. She has been a working RN for the past 30 years. She's a very good nurse and has been asked a number of times to be a supervisor in the hospital where she works. However, because of her feelings about her English she has continually declined these invitations. She constantly talks with me about her failure with English. I don't see it. I think some of it is more emotional on her part.

Much of what is done on the job as a nurse gets to be routine, particularly the orders the doctors write and the protocols that have to be followed. Even most narrative charting becomes routine. Where language might become a problem is in speaking with patients. What I have noticed with people where English is not their primary language is that when they do not have a good command of common idiom, they often don't participate as much in the chit-chat and gossip that goes on between co-workers. That, however, is not such a bad thing. One of my sisters-in-law, for example, has some nasty things to say about others--in her own language and around people from her own culture. It's probably just as well that a language barrier at work prohibits her from showing a lot of her true character to co-workers. People might be surprised to learn that she is not the nice, quiet person they think she is. Her quietness at work comes from her inability to speak and understand English very well. How she got through her college program here in America is anyone's guess. Probably a testament to her intelligence. I can tell you that when she was a student I often saw notations in the margins of her textbooks where she had translated things into her primary language to help her understand the material. She is in another healthcare discipline and passed her state board on the first try.

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