Spanish · Specialist course
Medical spanish for healthcare workers who consult in it, not just study it
A consultation in Spanish is not a vocabulary test. It is history taking, reassurance, consent and bad news, in the register a frightened patient can follow.
- CEFR B1
Who this is for
Is this the right course for you?
Doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals who consult with Spanish-speaking patients, particularly in the United States.
What you cover
What the lessons cover
- History taking: the questions, and the follow-ups patients actually answer
- Symptom description in patient language rather than clinical terminology
- Explaining diagnosis, treatment and risk in plain Spanish
- Consent conversations, and checking that understanding is genuine
- Register shifts between speaking to a patient and a colleague
- Regional vocabulary differences that matter in a clinical setting
Medical Spanish is taught here as a clinical communication course that happens to be in Spanish, rather than a Spanish course with a medical unit attached.
Patients do not use clinical vocabulary
The hardest part of a Spanish consultation for most clinicians is not producing medical terms — it is understanding how a patient describes a symptom in their own words, which is rarely how a textbook puts it. Lessons work from real patient language.
Where the course stops
This does not replace a professional interpreter, and we will not pretend it does. Consent, bad news and complex history taking should follow your institution’s interpreting policy. What improves is everything around that.
Medical Spanish questions, answered properly
What level of Spanish do I need before starting?
Roughly A2 to B1. Clinical vocabulary on top of no grammar does not produce a usable consultation — you end up with medical nouns and no ability to ask a follow-up question. If you are below that we will say so and suggest general lessons first, which is usually three to six months of work.
Is this a substitute for a professional interpreter?
No, and it would be wrong to suggest otherwise. Where your institution requires an interpreter, use one — that is a patient-safety and medico-legal matter, not a language one. What this course gives you is the ability to build rapport, handle routine exchanges, and understand what is being said while the interpreter is arranged.
Do you cover the differences between countries?
Yes, because they matter clinically. Words for common symptoms and body parts vary between Mexican, Caribbean, Central American and South American Spanish, and a term that is neutral in one country can be confusing or crude in another. Tell us which patient population you serve and lessons weight accordingly.
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