spanish-language reference

A blurb on the front of William Harvey's _Spanish for Health Care Professionals_ notes that this book is designed for communicating with people whose only language is Spanish. This book is also designed for people who have little or no skills in Spanish to learn something of that language.

The first chapter, which is entitled "Basic Information," introduces the reader to the Spanish alphabet, so that the reader may learn how to pronounce Spanish words, and to some basic expressions such as "Good morning" and "How are you?"

In subsequent chapters the reader learns the names for the parts of the body, some terms/phrases for admission into a hospital, some terms/phrases for an accident scene, and some terms/phrases for a pregnancy. These chapters are followed by three more which teach terms/phrases according to three hypothetical patients of varied ages. At the end of the book is what the writer called a word/expression finder,an English/Spanish and a Spanish/English dictionary.

However the reader should be aware that the terminology discussed is limited in its depth. A quick comparison of this book with _First Responder_ by David Schottke and others shows that terms such as "abdomen" and "anaphylactic shock" are not covered by William Harvey's book. Even so, as the front cover blurb said, this book should be very useful to people who have little or no skills in Spanish when speaking to Spanish speaking patients.

Reviewed by one of the professional Spanish-language interpreters at a major medical facility. Not organized very well; too confusing. There are better products, so this one is not recommended.

I am a medical resident and recently bought William Harvey's "Spanish for Health Care Professionals". A wonderful way to learn phrases and basic Spanish skills to communicate with a Spanish-speaking patient. I would recommend this tutorial for anyone willing to put in the time to begin learning another language. It will help you be a better health care provider for a sometimes-underserved patient population.