My thoughts on an experience as a UK medical student in a Chilean hospital
Look out for some idioms and phrasal verbs in bold
I’m a native English speaker and I went to medical school in the UK. However, during medical school I had the opportunity to take an “elective”; the chance to take a rotation anywhere in the world. Chile, in Latin America, which is a Spanish speaking country was my destination! I had studied Spanish in high school but I had very little experience in speaking it in real life until my elective. I know many of you are likely in the same boatwhen it comes to going to an English-speaking hospital. To find out how I got on keep reading!
First Day Nerves
The night before the first day in the hospital I was really excited that all planning had finally paid off! I was also incredibly nervous as I had no idea what to expect. It was a bit like thinking about my first day at medical school, except with the additional worry that I wouldn’t be able to understand anything anyone was saying! Luckily I was so tired from my flight the day before that I managed to sleep well and be fully rested before that day.
It’s not all about the language!
I was lucky that everyone I met on the first day was really lovely and spoke slowly for me! However, what struck me was the big cultural differences that I had not expected. For example, in Chile everyone kisses each other as a greeting (on the cheek), even in the hospital! I found this very strange as in England we usually use a handshake when meeting someone for the first time. It felt very weird kissing my new boss! It was also unusual getting used to the different medical system. The role of medical students was much more active and involved than what I was used to in England, but this resulted in a great educational experience for me once I got the hang of it.
Let’s talk about language
This is a language website so I should talk about language difficulties! One of the big difficulties I found was getting used to the accent and slang of Chileans. They spoke NOTHING like my textbooks at school! I’ll be honest there were some occasions when I understood absolutely nothing even when I asked people to repeat several times. However, over the weeks I gradually got used to the accent and I learned a lot of new slang words.
Another problem with language was the vocabulary specific to the medical situation. I found the names of diseases and anatomy straightforward as they all come from Latin or Greek and are therefore very similar between English and Spanish. What was difficult was words such as “urine dip” and “patient notes” which don’t appear in the textbooks. Another huge problem for me was all the acronyms! Due to the difference in grammar, even if the individual words were similar in English, the Spanish acronym would be in a different order and therefore very difficult to understand.
The positives
Overall my first experience of being in a hospital in a different country was amazing! I made a lot of friends, explored a new place and learned a lot about medicine, language and culture. I also got a great insight into what it is that people need to know when they consider doing medical work in a different language from their own. That’s what inspired me to set up this website! I hope to grow this site as a resource for people looking to build their vocabulary and prepare for working in a different country!
If you have any questions about my experience or any of the language used please let me know in the comments! Also let me know if there’s any areas you would like me to discuss in future blogs.
For discussion of the idioms and phrasal verbs used, and an interactive quiz to test your knowledge please click here
Thanks for reading!