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Learning spanish for VetMed Universidad Cardenal Herrera

I am currently researching European vet schools that teach in English. I've come across a few plus Universidad Cardenal Herrera in Valencia, Spain although only years 1 & 2 are in english and 3 - 5 in spanish. Hoping I can find someone who attends this uni or has been in a similar situation who can tell me realistically how easy is it going to be to learn spanish alongside studying to be a vet? Thank you!

Reply 1

Angry cucumber

I can't help you with how easy learning another language is alongside veterinary as I've only done the latter! However for English speaking schools abroad - look at Utrecht and Budapest :smile:

Also there's vet schools in Australia and NZ but I don't know what the tuition fees are like over there. Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 2

ponyvet

Hi,
I would not take this decision lightly. Despite being bilingual, I use English more and would not have considered taking my vet studies in any other language. Although I did not learn a language whilst studying for my veterinary degree, I learnt Spanish (beginner to AS level) in 6 months whilst doing my first degree. This was ok because I had lessons 3 hours a week but there was a lot of work outside of the lessons. If you want to be proficient enough to study veterinary medicine study in another language, you will need a very sound grasp on the language.

I work in the French speaking part of Switzerland and although I work in English I am surrounded by French speakers and hear it all day. Despite that, and after having done A level French (albeit 18 years ago) my French hasn't improved much and my employer has just organised a 6 month course of lessons for me. I have two colleagues on my team with a story that may be of interest to you. Both speak French as a first language and learnt German to a high level at school - the norm here. Both started vet school but had to study in the German speaking part of the country because there are no French speaking vet schools in this part of Switzerland and of course international fees would apply if they went to France. Both found the course too difficult to study in German, couldn't pass their exams and ended up having to drop out.

On a separate note, I had an interesting experience a couple of months ago. I was asked to speak at a vet CPD event in the German part of the country. It was unreal to see that they all understood English perfectly,( no translator was required!)...and they asked plenty of really good questions. The other lectures were given in either French or German with one projector showing the slides written in German and a second projector next to it, showing the slides in French. I felt a bit sorry for the vets from the Italian speaking parts!

Anyway, I hope my ramblings were useful and you and best of luck with the decision-making.