Beginning Medical Spanish: Oral Proficiency and Cultural Humility by Parizad T. Dejbord Sawan

Abstract

Reviewed by: Beginning Medical Spanish: Oral Proficiency and Cultural Humility by Parizad T. Dejbord Sawan Karol Hardin Dejbord Sawan, Parizad T. Beginning Medical Spanish: Oral Proficiency and Cultural Humility. Routledge, 2020. Pp. 207. ISBN 978-0-36732-243-4. The well-documented need for Spanish in healthcare professions has resulted in a variety of textbooks and products; therefore, it would be easy to discount Beginning Medical Spanish: Oral Proficiency and Cultural Humility as just another elementary text. Instead, from seven years of experience teaching Spanish at Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio, the author presents [End Page 138] conversational Spanish for the substantial niche audience of medical professionals already in the workplace. Created for healthcare personnel with little or no prior Spanish knowledge, the book has two stated foci: oral proficiency and cultural humility. The author promises goals that realistically can be met from a beginning textbook, yet it fills an important gap in existing materials. The text offers content for a specific audience and an orientation to authentic oral communication. The book also includes the commendable goal of cultural humility (cultural sensitivity and awareness of personal bias), rather than cultural competence (“mastering” knowledge about a culture). A significant degree of cultural information is integrated throughout the text, revealing informative and relevant research. Whereas many texts center around terminology, this book emphasizes conversation with patients in order to create rapport. The author has used the text activities and has experience with beginning students in a medical setting. The methodology statement in the introduction is well articulated, and every chapter includes learning outcomes in a logical sequence with a reasonable amount of information for a full-time employee (or even a pre-health undergraduate student). Designed around the format of a two-day per week meeting of 1.5 hours for a three-semester sequence, the book utilizes scaffolding to gradually increase the degree of complexity while also appropriately recycling previously introduced material. Both learners and experienced instructors will find the book’s layout to be simple and easily accessible. Icons are incorporated for a variety of activities, such as audio recordings (available on the textbook website), guided oral practice, role-plays, short conversations, brief grammar explanations, written homework, and cultural material. Activities appear geared toward active communication, and grammar is introduced within a communicative context. For example, subject-adjective order is presented when talking about a favorite season, thereby providing some small talk that can be used with patients. The author also highlights frequent issues for second-language students of Spanish in logical contexts in the book (e.g., specific false cognates, the collective noun familia, and different ways of giving commands). For the most part, vocabulary pertains to US Spanish-speaking patients, even incorporating the occasional US regionalism such as rastrillar las hojas en su yarda (118). The book is divided into twelve chapters (four chapters per semester). The text begins with an emphasis on greetings and leave-takings, something all hospital personnel regularly need to perform in order to establish rapport with patients. Chapter 1 also introduces the verb llamarse, names, titles, and the cultural value of respeto. Chapter 2 includes familial terms, grammatical gender and number, and the role of familismo, contributing to an early emphasis on making connections with patients. Chapter 3 centers on the hospital, including descriptions of people and locations, as well as ser and haber. Chapter 4 introduces estar and numbers in the context of providing directions. The chapter is visually well organized with a useful incorporation of English cognates. Although not included, instructors could augment the chapter, if desired, with additional adjectives relating to a specifically medical context, such as enfermo, mareado, cansado, débil, or decaído. Chapter 5 presents a thorough introduction to dates, time, and the present tense. The role-plays involving making appointments and describing weekly schedules are interactive, controlled, and authentic. At times, last names in activities seem more Peninsular than Latin American, but that is a minor criticism that does not diminish the activities themselves. Chapter 6 offers practice completing hospital forms and requesting patient information, again directed towards establishing rapport. Chapter 7 incorporates stem-changing verbs in the context of describing personal activities and the...