LANEY NAIMARK - VETERINARIAN
Angela: How's it been for you since you said, "I'm going to start now?"
Laney: Yeah, it's kind of a multi-dimensional answer because I feel like I spent a fair amount of time in Guatemala, a Spanish-speaking country, working in my profession—in veterinary medicine—and then picking up words, picking up phrases, but feeling like I couldn't communicate effectively with people.
Although it was interesting because I think there's a lot of very similar words in English and Spanish for medical words. I felt like I could do that, like doctor-to-doctor, but I couldn’t talk to the people. I couldn't communicate what I wanted to. And in the United States, too, there are so many Spanish-speaking people, and there are so many Spanish-speaking people who don't speak English at all. In my profession, I definitely interact with and encounter those types of people. So, it was mainly for my profession, to be able to communicate with a more diverse population of people, but also just, you know, to learn the language because I think that that's a powerful tool.
It feels like a superpower. And I don't like that most people in the United States that are born here are really only fluent in English. So that was something that I really wanted to do. And I think, you know, I really just love your style of teaching. I love it—the way that you make learning fun, you make it interactive, you make it very, very rewarding. And I think that was just the impetus that I needed to say, “Let's keep going. I want to just do this.”
«It feels like a superpower. And I don't like that most people in the United States that are born here are really only fluent in English. So that was something that I really wanted to do.»
PROFILE: Veterinarian in New Hampshire, USA.
THE GOAL: "To communicate better in Spanish and use it at work as well"
LESSONS FREQUENCY: One hour of Spanish sessions per week, along with autonomous guided practice.
Angela: Yeah, yeah, that's nice. And how has this been for you? How would you describe it now? Like, if you can say to someone, how does it feel to learn Spanish? How has this been for you personally?
Laney: I mean, I feel really proud of that. I feel like we're meeting regularly, once a week, if not once every other week. So I feel like my ability to understand and communicate—I definitely see a difference. And my brother, who's fluent in Spanish, has said, "Wow, you're learning so much! You know so much!" And that's very rewarding for me.
There are obviously still things that I struggle with, like we were talking about vocabulary. Sometimes I just can't find the right word that I need, and I can't figure out how to put the sentence together in the way that I want. But I feel like we're continuing to build on those blocks of knowledge so that I can figure out a way to communicate what I want to, even if I don't have the perfect way to say it. So, I think that's been—I think—I feel like I've seen a lot of progress. I don't know if you have?
«And my brother, who's fluent in Spanish, has said, "Wow, you're learning so much! You know so much!" And that's very rewarding for me.»
Angela: Yeah, I've seen a lot of progress. Well, we’re barely using English when we're talking anymore, right? So it's just like, we don't need it anymore. And you understand all the things that are being said, and sometimes the explanations could get very complex. And despite that, you're just like, "Yeah, I understand everything."
So it's like, and I notice it, right? Because I know some people say, "Yeah, I get it," and then it's very clear that they don't. So I have to go back, but you do. And that's why I keep speaking in Spanish, because I'm sure that it's fine, which is—and it’s crazy.
Laney: Yeah, there are plenty of times where I'm like, "Oh, I think I probably missed a word or two that you're saying," but I get the intention of what you're saying. So I think my listening comprehension—although, I mean, you speak so clearly that, you know, sometimes I feel like that's cheating because I'll listen to the radio, and I’ll be like, "What is happening?" But I think that my listening has improved significantly. Sometimes I think it's harder to come up with the words to say things.
Angela: That’s the idea, to keep that balance, right? That’s part of the learning process, right? So yeah, and that's why I also suggest listening to other people, like talking on the phone or things like that, so you will have to listen to people who aren’t Spanish teachers anymore.
«Yeah, there are plenty of times where I'm like, "Oh, I think I probably missed a word or two that you're saying," but
I get the intention of what you're saying.»
Laney: What I like—sometimes I'll put on the Spanish stations, and I'll be like, "I think I'm picking up every 10th word," because they're speaking so fast. They're probably using a lot of slang. Like, I don't know all these things, but still, I'm like, "Oh, I know that, I know that. They're talking about this in some sense." And that’s cool.
Angela: Yeah, exactly. And sometimes it's things that are a little bit out of context, so you don't know exactly what's going on, right? Maybe it's an internal joke between the speakers, or there could be so many things happening there. So yeah, that's good. And I would like to know—I mean, I have this memory when you sent me a WhatsApp text, and you said like, "Hey, I talked to one of my patients." Well, to one of the owners of your patients. You were very, very happy about it, and I thought, "Well, that's great." So tell me how it's been for you communicating and why you think it's valuable now to be able to at least explain some diagnoses or things about your job.
Laney: I feel like at least once or twice a week, I have clients come into the hospital who really have minimal English. Sometimes they'll have a child or someone with them that can speak English, but sometimes there isn't anyone that can speak English and help to translate. We do have a couple of fluent Spanish speakers in our hospital, but they're not always there.
And I feel like, yeah, the experience that I had of having two people who were only Spanish-speaking, and they had a pet that was very, very sick. And I couldn't explain every detail to them, but I was very much able to express the sentiment of what was going on and determine what they wanted to do in that situation. I just expressed to them, "You know, I'm learning Spanish. If you speak slowly and if you ask me additional questions for follow-up, I'll do my best." And it was super rewarding because I felt like they really appreciated that I was trying to communicate with them in the way that they needed to be communicated with.
«I feel like at least once or twice a week, I have clients come into the hospital who really have minimal English. Sometimes they'll have a child or someone with them that can speak English, but sometimes there isn't anyone that can speak English and help to translate. We do have a couple of fluent Spanish speakers in our hospital, but they're not always there.»
These situations—I work in the emergency room—they’re stressful enough, and then to try to have to think in another language that these people have basically no background in, that’s a lot to ask. And so I think for me, it's really special to be able to be like, "Hey, this is something I'm working on. Why don't you think clearly in your language, and let me do my best to meet you there?" And that's really special. I've had it met with a lot of excitement and surprise, and that's really, really rewarding. And I can see that continuing to progress, because, of course, language is so nuanced, and there's so much that needs to be expressed, especially in emergency situations, so continuing to practice that is great. Yeah, I’m really happy with that.
Angela: Yeah. Well, and you're mentioning that, and it makes me think that it gets a huge value because in that moment, the person is very stressed about the situation, right? Like, going to emergency, something is happening, and they don't understand. They want to save their pet, they want the pet to feel better, and maybe you're more still, and you have this position of the professional. So it's—strange enough—it’s easier for you to switch the code and speak in Spanish to them because you're emotionally more relaxed than they are, right?
So in that moment, helping them by speaking in Spanish would actually mean the world to them because they’re very stressed, and they don’t know how to express it in English well enough, right?
Laney: The way that we do it in the emergency room, too, is we send all of our clients home with written discharge instructions. And often, like, most of us don't speak any Spanish, and we get, like I said, a lot of Spanish-speaking clients. So sometimes I'll write up what I want to say in English, and then I'll translate it myself, or I'll check with a translating service. Or sometimes there are documents online that you can find for certain common conditions that are all in Spanish.
And it's cool because I'll read through them and be like, "Oh, I know exactly what this is saying. This is really, really awesome," and it expresses exactly what I would have wanted to express in a really thorough and in-depth way. So using the tools that I have available to me, even though I might be able to say, "Oh, your dog is vomiting and having diarrhea, and we need to figure out why," I could say that in Spanish. But then I can give them a really thorough write-up on causes of vomiting and diarrhea in dogs in Spanish, and I’ll read it and say, "Yeah, that looks good," and give it to them. So that's cool.
«For me, it's really special to be able to be like, "Hey, this is something I'm working on. Why don't you think clearly in your language, and let me do my best to meet you there?" And that's really special. I've had it met with a lot of excitement and surprise, and that's really, really rewarding.»
Angela: Exactly. You know that you're recommending something, and even if you don't have exactly all the same words, you can check it and say, "Yeah, that's right," and you can recommend it without being scared, right? Like, "Maybe I'm sending something that's wrong."
Laney: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: Exactly. And that is great because it's not like you're blindly giving somebody something. Which, for example, could happen if I recommended something in Chinese. I would say, "Oh, hopefully it will be fine," because I couldn't recognize it, right? But now you can say, "Okay, yeah, this makes sense," so I feel comfortable sharing this information, and it's well explained. Yeah, well, that's great.
