Finding a Job that Allows You to Utilize Your Bilingual Language Abilities

One of the best career opportunities in the U.S. today is for bilingual (English & Spanish speaking) health care workers, especially Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners. Most areas of the country have a sizable Hispanic population that speaks little, if any, English. Finding interpreters is sometimes very difficult, and with an interpreter you have to worry about the accuracy of the information that is being conveyed between the patient and the healthcare professional and also about privacy issues. Many patients hesitate to open up to an interpreter for fear of their medical issues being gossiped about or found out by family and friends; Hispanic people tend to be very private as a culture. If you are bilingual and are contemplating a career change or are returning to school, keep nursing in mind. There is a national shortage of Registered Nurses in the U.S. which is expected to worsen over the years to come, and being bilingual gives you an extra bargaining chip when it comes to benefits and salary.

Looking back on my middle school and high school years, the biggest regret that I have is that I didn't pursue learning Spanish. I took a total of 5 years of Spanish, and enjoyed it and got good grades. But, you know how teenagers are... Once I decided that I had "better things to do" than to take classes that were not mandated, I dropped Spanish, despite the the opposition of my parents and guidance counsellors. Now, many years later, I find myself trying to teach myself Spanish from computer programs and books. In my work as a healthcare provider in an inner-city HIV/AIDS clinic, I have cared for a large number of Hispanic patients who had to rely on others to interpret. In the field of HIV, privacy is such a huge thing that I sometimes had a lot of trouble getting people to open up through an interpretor, whereas I knew how to effectively communicate with Englsh-speaking patients. If not for the language barrier, I am sure that this population of patients would receive better attention to their many psychosocial concerns and problems.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the Hispanic people who have relocated to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico or Cuba and have started to speak only English in their homes with their children. Many of these children do not understand or speak any Spanish at all. Although I am a strong supporter of encouraging everyone who lives in this country to learn English, and understand that the children must have a good command of the English language to succeed in their schooling, I also feel that they should be taught to speak Spanish also. The Spanish language and the culture of their ancestors is an important part of who they are, and being bilingual as an adult will definitely be an asset , no matter what occupation they choose.