Medical Spanish Courses

CPI offers a variety of specialized seminars designed for professionals at each of its campuses.

The Medical Spanish courses are offered on a monthly basis at each of the CPI sites permitting students to see more of Costa Rica. Any person who works in the health care field can take this specialized course to learn Spanish with emphasis on medical vocabulary.

Program Schedule and Description

Each week consists of 4 hours of Spanish class daily - 8:00 am to 12:00 pm - from Monday to Fridays. In this schedule the participants will have the opportunity to take excursions in the afternoons. Also, people who travel with friends or family members who are participating in the Standard Spanish Program will be able to share the same schedule and do activities together in the afternoons and/or on the weekends.

Although medical Spanish students may take one or two weeks of the course, they can maximize their time by taking the full 3 week course (1 week at each CPI site). The medical observation will allow the students to practice their newly acquired linguistic skills at a local clinic during the third week of the course while in Heredia (limited to advanced beginner speakers and higher).

Program Highlights

• CPI has been offering medical Spanish courses since 1998, making it the most specialized language-immersion school in Costa Rica.

• Our program successfully assists medical professionals to become more effective health care providers through Spanish-language development coupled with the opportunity to augment cultural sensitivity through complete immersion in native Latin American culture.

• All grammar topics are taught in the context of medical terminology and expressions. The goal of this course is for students to have the necessary language skills in order to provide quality health care to Spanish speakers.

Jeff Brooker, MD Cardiology, Retired Columbia, SC, USA "I am a retired cardiologist and now volunteer in two charities both of which serve a high percent of Spanish speaking clients. I have always wanted to speak a second language, too, and after study in various institutions of learning available in Columbia, SC, I felt the need for greater fluency and believed that greater immersion and specific instruction in medical Spanish vocabulary would be valuable. I knew Costa Rica has been a stable, viable democracy for many years and I learned of CPI and its medical Spanish program in a web search. I have been so pleased with all my CPI encounters from e-mail correspondence to transport. But especially the drills and lessons in language fluency and grammatical accuracy have been just for what I had hoped. The teachers are knowledgeable and infinitely patient and pleasant. I was properly placed for my existing level of Spanish fluency. The addition of clinical experience in the clinic in La Carpio demonstrated real life situations in which the vocabulary was put to practical use in my direct patient interviews. My experience has been extremely helpful and positive. I can easily strongly recommend the program at CPI for all so interested and inclined."

Ayumi Shinozaki "I gained valuable experience with the medical program. The Spanish classes are focused on medical terminology used in typical conversations with patients. I also had the opportunity to visit a public hospital and a private clinic to observe the differences between the public and private healthcare systems of Costa Rica. I applied my knowledge from class while interviewing patients in Spanish. It was a great opportunity for me to practice my medical Spanish while obtaining clinical experience."