Customer Reviews

Manual for Relatively Painless Medical Spanish: A Self-Teaching Course

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was the single most useful tool I used in order to prepare for clinical rotations in a hospital where 60-75% of patients were primarily Spanish-speaking. I went from being hopeless ("que?") to functionally conversant in a couple of months. The time investment is minimal, about 4-5 hours per week, in order to complete this workbook in 8 weeks. I am recommending it to other medical students and medical residents who wish to acquire language as a tool in their practice with Spanish-speaking patients.

This book actually teaches you all of the things you really do need to know to work with spanish-speaking patients. It is a workbook in which the exercises form the bulk of the text although every now and then she will add some short, information-filled paragraphs. It is this teaching technique that makes this manual so successful. This is not to say that you don't have to work at it but as she claims she makes it relatively painless and even fun. I highly recommend this book to anyone who works with spanish-speaking patients in a medical setting but who are not themselves, spanish speaking.

As a language teacher, I am using the book as a tool to learn medical terms to use with patients on a missions trip. I have found it easy to use and extremely practical. It is also humorous which encourages you to keep plugging on. There are some small grammatical errors, but nothing which detracts from the usefulness of the book.

I found this to be the best book out there to quickly learn medical spanish. It sounds like the two reviewers listed here who gave this book bad marks are advertising their own products and probably didn't even read the book. Not only is the book excellent to learn basic medical spanish but it was written by a doctor who also has excellent examples of spanish use in medical practice. How many of medical spanish books have been written by a physician? Very few. As a practicing physician who sees many Spanish-speaking patients this book is a must. Again, the two reviewers who gave this book low marks, took the examples out of the context since most of the book is geared towards examples in the medical setting. I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning medical spanish without any painkillers.

I am a medical interpreter in a large hospital. I still consider this book to be in its draft form. There are spelling and grammar errors in both the Spanish and English. The format looks like it was type set with an ancient word processor. Before you purchase this manual check it out at your local bookstore, however if you still decide to purchase it do so on amazon.com so that you save enough money to buy a better one later.

Having taken 4 years of Spanish in high school, I wasn't starting from scratch, but I was certainly rusty and unfamiliar with medical terminology. This book was very easy to read and not as dry as some of the others I looked at. It's a good place to start if you have no background in Spanish, or if you need a refresher.

I was expecting a good crash course in Spanish for health workers but this was a disappointment. Spends too much space on basic grammar, sentences you will never use ("Pepe has a short pencil" "The pencil of Pepe is short") and not enough space teaching phrases and sentences you really need to communicate with your spanish speaking patients. Remember those absurd language courses with their stilted dialogues? This is more of the same. For a much better course, try "essential spanish for health care" by Living Languages" That contains plenty that you can use immediately.

Remember the teacher you loved? No way you would have failed that class, right?
The same will be true of Ana Malinow's medical-Spanish course.
The vocabulary is relevant. (The author is an M.D. and a native Spanish speaker.) The grammar is designed for communication, not parsing. The teacher is gently funny on every page, and forgiving of every failure except failure to try.
"Remember to open your mouth wide," she advises regarding Spanish pronunciation. "You cannot have marbles in your mouth when you speak Spanish. (You will have to find another place for them.)"
You will wish Ana Malinow were in the room. Her book is the next-best thing.

I have used the book, "Manual for Painless Medical Spanish" by Ana Malinow Rajkovic for my classes this past semester and every person said they really liked the book. The book was used in a class rather than independent study and they all liked the text.

Several factors contributed to this factor. They liked the print, the practice exercises, the answers for reinforcement and the size of the book. There is a manageable amount of work with a good variety. I would highly recommend the book and am using it again this fall.

There are a few typing errors which could easily be corrected. It was a pleasure to use the book and would look forward to a sequence to this book along with a tape for reinforcement.

I began to work in a clinic for the working poor in which 80+% of the patients are Spanish speaking. I speak English and German, neither of much help.

I purchased a copy of this book in a local outlet mall and have been exceptionally pleased. The material presented in the book is very well targeted to medical Spanish and has enabled me to pick up pertinent words and phrases very quickly. The book does not spend much time on non-medical Spanish so it is not for the person trying to learn to speak Spanish in general.

I don't know how much my knowledge of German has sped the process, there is no doubt it helps, but I believe this book is very good for anyone needing to learn the basics of medical Spanish. Actually, since it is in workbook form, I have ordered another copy so that I can go through it repeatedly until the material becomes second nature.