Customer Reviews

Medical Spanish: Interviewing the Latino Patient - A Cross Cultural Perspective

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was assigned for me to use in a class on the use of Spanish in medical situations. We are currently nearing the end of the semester, and I feel justified in advancing an opinion over the book's quality. To begin, the grammar and vocabulary presents serious problems. At least one-third of the book uses inaccurate Spanish terminology and dubious grammatical constructions. Second, I take exception to much of the book's cultural contents. It consistently presents stereotypes of Latinos, portraying them as superstitious and poorly educated; the only one not so portrayed are those who have become acculturated to United States society. Third, many of the book's exercises are simply useless. Fourth and last, the illustrations are cheap and often tasteless.

I have a medical ground, am a native speaker, and teach in a university environment. I can testify that working with this book proved a nightmare. I would recommend that the authors carefully review the text with native speakers for greater accuracy.

Norman, Oklahoma

I have used this book as a primary textbook in a short-term tutorial course for undergraduates. Their goal is to prepare to be volunteer medical interpreters and assist monolingual nurses who serve farmworkers in under-served rural areas. Advantages: 1) one can hear frequently-used vocabulary in a clinical setting 2) the medical vocabulary has a context - recordings of patient interviews - and is therefore more helpful than memorizing endless lists of medical terminology. Disadvantages: 1) the book comes with audiotapes rather than a CD - technologically out-of-date 2) the anatomical drawings are rather rough. I recommend purchase of a Spanish-English medical dictionary as an important supplement. Despite what one reviewer wrote, I see nothing demeaning about the cultural content and my student volunteers - many are Latinos - have never complained about any stereotypical portrayals of Latino patients in the book.

This book is totaly focused on the Latino Patient. It is not driven by terminology but rather real world dialogs by Spanish Speakers. It includes two cassettes that help guide the learner through the converstations allowing the student to repeat. I also found it to be user-friendly. When I need to look up a particular term or concept, I found it easily and effortlessly. It also has exercises to reinforce what is being presented in each chapter.

I would recommend this book to anyone who truly wants to learn Spanish.

GREAT book! I used it when studying abroad to help learn medical spanish, and still use it today!

We use several of these books at our Spanish immersion center ILISA in Costa Rica. Of the few books on the topic out there, this is our preferred book.

And, it's also used by Hispanic teachers who don't see any offensive stereotyping.

The benefits of reading this book far outweight any room for improvement it may have.

Highly recommended.