This Is How Travel Nursing Got Me Learning Spanish

I grew up in an English-speaking American household where learning Spanish and other languages was encouraged, but I didn’t know a single person who actually spoke Spanish! When I became an adult, I realized that my region was not particularly international and that many people spoke multiple languages. My mom taught me how to ask where the bathroom was, “Donde está el baño?” That’s as far as I got with Spanish!

Fast forward to January 2022.

As an experienced travel nurse, I decided to try my hand at finding a contract in Florida for the winter. Sunshine, beaches, and the absence of frigid cold called my name! I got lucky and found a contract near my parents’ house in Kissimmee, Florida, outside of Orlando.

I didn’t know (yet) that Kissimmee is nicknamed “Little Puerto Rico” because of a huge surge of Puerto Rican migrants the area has received since 2015. I haven’t been able to find an accurate number for 2023, but there are over 300,000 Hispanics of Puerto Rican origin living in Central Florida.

So yeah, I was outnumbered!

It only took a week to realize that I couldn’t communicate with most of my patients and had no clue what my coworkers were discussing at the nurses’ station in rapid Spanish. It was time to take some steps to help myself!

I became seriously interested in learning Spanish, which was sink-or-swim in that ICU! Can you imagine me popping my head out of rooms, calling down the hallway to my coworkers, “How do you say ‘toothbrush’ in Spanish?!” I was motivated to learn out of necessity; I had to communicate somehow! My Latino coworkers were incredibly kind to me and patiently interpreted for me on a daily basis.

I spent six months in that hospital figuring out how the basics of Spanish grammar worked, how to introduce myself, and how to say important nursing phrases like, “Don’t touch that” and “I’ll be right back!”

Unfortunately, I had to move on to another contract.

Once I left Florida for a Midwest contract, I stopped using my Spanish skills on a daily basis and fell into a boring routine of studying the same words I already knew. I didn’t get my stride back until three months later, during the summer of 2022. I decided to dive headfirst into self-immersion, and I haven’t looked back!

I would love to take another contract in a Spanish-speaking region such as Arizona/New Mexico/Texas/California/etc. Right now, I’m finishing a contract in St. Louis, Missouri, and then hopefully spending the summer in Spain to continue learning Spanish!

If you have suggestions on contract locations for my Spanish practice, I’d love to hear them! If Spanish isn’t your thing but you still love to learn, check out my article, “Why Nurses Should Never Stop Learning – My Favorite ICU Resources”

Resources I Am Currently Using to Learn Spanish

1. Lingoda – I’m halfway through the Lingoda Sprint challenge as of this post date! Live Zoom classes five days per week.
2. Duolingo – Daily Spanish exercises and vocabulary drills
3. Pimsleur – 30 minute audio lessons for when I’m driving or need to be learning Spanish hands-free
4. Watching Spanish TV shows on Netflix with English subtitles – Highly recommend “Cable Girls/Las Chicas del Cable”!
5. Reading children’s books in Spanish – Currently working through Cuantos de la Selva by Horacio Quiroga