by Alfonso M. López

​We all know the important saying in Real Estate, Location, Location, Location!  

When learning a language, we also have a very useful and important expression though maybe not always popular:  Practice, Practice, Practice!
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But realistically, it is sometimes difficult to find ways to practice your Spanish. Most of us would agree that during the actual session with your clients is not the ideal time and place to try new words, phrase constructions, and expressions!
 
We have a few suggestions for you to create fun, new habits which will painlessly help improve your Spanish.

Jennifer C. one of our most devoted students from beautiful San Diego, California shared with us recently some of her preferred techniques for practicing her Spanish on a regular basis.
 
Besides listening to videos and practicing with us in clinical role-play teleconferences, Jennifer makes it a habit to do the following daily:

-  She listens to Spanish Radio Stations in her car on her way to work. (I know, sometimes even a native Spanish speaker can’t understand the fast talking individuals on the radio, but hey, for sure you’ll pick up words and expressions here and there; it helps, trust us).

For example, Cynthia B. is a fan of Spanish speaking radio psychologists Doctora Isabel and Doctor Edward Lopez Navarro. Cynthia always mentions that listening to them helps her tremendously with clinical vocabulary, cultural and legal issues facing the Latino community.

-  Jennifer also watches Spanish speaking TV programs every time she has the time. (Hispanic Telenovelas, the counterpart of American soap operas, are ideal to practice Spanish, as the actors usually speak clearly and usually using a neutral accent).

-  She reads magazines and articles in Spanish regularly.

-  Jennifer also pushes herself to speak in Spanish when ordering food at restaurants or conversing with Spanish speaking people she encounters.

-  One last thing Jennifer does to practice her Spanish regularly is to write small paragraphs of things that she frequently communicates to clients and then try to translate them to Spanish. (This technique can be very helpful, especially if it is done daily – write something short, perhaps five lines at a time, and translate it.)
 
You’ll be amazed at how useful these simple habits and techniques are for practicing your Spanish. Get on board!
 
As always, contact us! We are here to help mental health professionals improve their ability to treat Spanish speaking clients in their own language.
 
 
 
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by Alfonso M. López and Cynthia M. Braden, MFT

Question: As a psychotherapist how do I understand and practice Respeto?

Answer: One way to demonstrate Respeto is to be comfortable using the Usted form in all your verb tenses!

Question: Wow! how do I do that?

Answer: We are going to show you a relatively simple and specific aspect of Spanish that you can study to improve your ability to use the Usted (polite) form instead of the Tu (familiar) form when interacting with clients and others in professional settings. 

When you are comfortable using the Usted form consistently in all your verbs, you are strongly demonstrating an aspect of Respeto. 

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You will need a Spanish verbs dictionary like this one that conjugates each verb for you.

This is the Estar page.

Study the third person singular conjugation like where it is circled in red. That is the tense you want to choose when speaking to clients. 

To make phrases, questions and statements using the Usted form, choose the third person singular in past, present, future, conditional, imperative or any of the additional compound tenses you may want to practice using. 







Operationalize Respeto

To demonstrate Respeto make it your objective to consistently form sentences using the Usted conjugation of whatever verb you are using when speaking with clients, especially those who are older or of a higher rank.

Confirming that Respeto is still important to therapists well into the twenty-first century, our students report an improvement in client engagement and cooperation when practicing and implementing this aspect of Spanish within the therapeutic relationship.

We concur that using the Usted form instead of Tu, helps therapists improve the effectiveness of their practice principally by gaining the client's trust in the therapist and the therapeutic process.

We have heard children as young as three and four years old being called Usted by their parents in a pre-school setting. Most of the time though, we can safely use the form Tu when talking to younger clients. It is hard to pinpoint the exact age appropriate for the use of Tu, but it may feel awkward to say Usted to someone under twenty years of age. 

Curiously, for advanced-level Spanish speaking therapists who are not used to this concept, changing their habits, or getting used to using the Usted form may take more energy than for a therapist who is more of a beginner at Spanish.

So we recommend to start practicing the use of Usted early and often, not only in verbs but also in pronouns, articles, direct and indirect objects and open the doors to a more effective practice with your Spanish speaking clients. ​Our videos and teleconferences can help tremendously!

​One of our dear students, a psychologist specializing in families and living in New York City, recently asked us about differences in working with the great population of Dominicans in New York as opposed to working with Latinos from other countries. This came quite perfectly for us, as I lived the first 22 years of my life in the Dominican Republic, and I have also spent several years living in both New York City and Miami where large populations of Caribeños reside.

As we know, different countries have different idioms and ways to express themselves. For example, people from Mexico may use one word to define a feeling or emotion whereas a person from another Latin American country may use a  different word to express a similar feeling. In this post we are going to compare a couple of relevant Dominican and Mexican expressions.
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Tenemos dos opciones que le pueden beneficiar:

1. Tome las Clases deTeleconferencia Privada por Internet

Estas clases le ayudarán a:

- Romper el hielo” y a deshacerse del miedo inicial. 

- Saber cuál es su nivel de español para el ambiente terapéutico.

- Determinar cuáles son sus puntos fuertes y cuáles son que necesitan más trabajo 

- Trazar un mejor plan de estudio con el cual podrá obtener más por su inversión de tiempo y dinero.

Estas Clases por Videoconferencias además nos permiten diseñar un plan específico para cada uno de los estudiantes. Nos ayudan también a escuchar privadamente a cada estudiante en su pronunciación del español y así poder ver cuales lecciones les serán más efectivas.

2. Dedique tiempo regularmente para ver y estudiar nuestros útiles y dinámicos Videos por Internet. Usted podrá disfrutar de estos videos desde la privacidad de su hogar u oficina. Estos videos están diseñados especialmente para que el estudiante pueda verlos según su tiempo y conveniencia.

Trabajar con clientes Hispanos es más fácil de lo que parece si usted pone dedicación, esfuerzo y un poco de su tiempo cada día. Tome ventaja de nuestras clases individuales y empiece a mejorar su español terapéutico hoy. Send a question to Spanish for Mental Health Professionals.

by Alfonso M. López

Durante años de experiencia enseñando español a profesionales de salud mental, hemos encontrado estudiantes de todos los niveles.

Muchos de nuestros estudiantes también varían en la manera o método de estudio que prefieren. Algunos de ellos son más dedicados que otros, pero por lo general, nuestro sistema de enseñanza es tan dinámico y divertido que en su mayoría, los estudiantes se incorporan fácilmente a las lecciones y a nuestro programa de aprendizaje. Send us a message or personal question.

A pesar de todas estas diferencias entre estudiantes, hemos notado también que aquellos estudiantes que dedican tiempo a repasar, practicar, memorizar, leer y a escuchar el español por los menos 30 minutos al día, son los que verdaderamente adquieren un mayor y mas rápido avance.

Como consejo general, siempre insistimos en que el estudiante no se limite a una sola lección, sino que mantenga una consistencia en las clases para lograr una ventaja.

Así que si usted desea sacar más provecho a sus estudios del español, haga algunos de los puntos siguientes:

1-              Dedique un mínimo de 30 minutos diarios al estudio.

2-             Haga una lista de las palabras que usted no conoce mientras las va encontrando.

3-              Trate de practicar con otras personas de habla hispana.

4-             Lea artículos en español sobre temas que le interesen.

5-              Trate de escribir uno o dos párrafos diarios en español para agilizar su vocabulario.

6-             No se avergüence de hablar en español con las demás personas.

Recuerde que usted ha tomado la gran iniciativa de aprender otro idioma y esto requiere valor, deseo de superación, optimismo, dedicación  y entusiasmo.

No se desanime, si usted pone el empeño necesario, al cabo de unos cuantos meses, podrá saltar del nivel donde ahora se encuentra, al próximo más arriba.

Siga adelante!

Hi everyone, 

We finally have the store up and running! Please let us know how you like it, and what topics you might like to see added. Our brief and practical videos can help you improve your clinical Spanish. Don't be afraid, you can do it!

We look forward to working with you. Send us a personal message.

Best regards,
Cynthia M. Braden