4 answers
Danica
Student
Antwerp, Ohio
2
Questions
Asked
248 views
Would taking Spainsh help me?
Hi, I am a high school student who would like to for a school project, if taking a foreign language like Spanish would help me become a better social worker? Thank you for your time.
Login to comment
4 answers
Edna Ventura
Editor
2
Answers
Raymore, Missouri
Updated
Edna’s Answer
Hello!
Being bilingual not only will widen your career prospects but also will impact your cognitive abilities and academic performance, and will foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the Hispanic culture. With the United States having the second largest number of Spanish speakers in the world, being able to speak and write the language will open a much wider door for you in the field of Social Work.
As a bilingual social worker, you will be able to overcome language barriers, communicate more effectively with Hispanic families, and create a more personal connection with them.
Being bilingual not only will widen your career prospects but also will impact your cognitive abilities and academic performance, and will foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the Hispanic culture. With the United States having the second largest number of Spanish speakers in the world, being able to speak and write the language will open a much wider door for you in the field of Social Work.
As a bilingual social worker, you will be able to overcome language barriers, communicate more effectively with Hispanic families, and create a more personal connection with them.
Michelle M.
Actress
2522
Answers
Updated
Michelle’s Answer
Hello, Danica !
As someone who had done social service case management, I'd be happy to share some advice and thoughts for your future career as a Social Worker.
Knowing a foreign language doesn't make you a good social worker but many qualities will. If you like a subject, you should take it for personal enrichment, but you'll need to explore the social work career more to discover the things that will make you a great social worker ! This career takes a lot of time to learn and the focus is on psychology and human behavior.
I had worked utilizing Spanish speaking interpreters with clients and sometimes their family members would be there to interpret. Some co-workers also knew Spanish and would interpret. I also used an interpreter program online to speak with the client. I have a very, very elementary ability with Spanish, but my pronunciation is good so they'd understand it. I mention this to let you know that there are alternatives for speaking with clients if you are not fluent in their language. I also had a lot of Deaf clients, but have the basics of ASL and know a few signs. It's never interfered with the work and you'll see that may be the same for you. Depending on what your work situation is, sometimes they assign Spanish speaking clients that do not speak English to fluent Spanish speaking social workers. I had ten years Deaf Services training and I was assigned mostly if not all of the Deaf clients.
When you start applying for work, you may see that it says in the notice that they are looking for a Bi-Lingual Spanish Social Worker, but most will not say that. There will be lots of work for you if you're not fluent in Spanish.
If your school offers courses in Psychology and Health Science, those would prepare you well for your college Social Work Major. Very keen writing, verbal and presentational skills are a must as you will be having a lot of meetings and writing a lot of reports as a Social Worker. These are the key factors that will help you excel in this career.
As a Social Worker, you will encounter clients that have issues that you've never even heard of before, so developing an unbiased perspective will help you greatly. You should have the mindset to be open to working with all populations.
So knowing the Spanish language may make you better developed as a person but doesn't make you a better Social Worker, other important things will.
The things that will make you a good social worker will be knowing the full breadth of theory and techniques of therapy. Something else would be having lots of experience before you apply for your first career job. This is the type of career that causes you to get better as time goes on because you are always learning through it and your clients will be important teachers for you, too.
I hope this helps and I wish you all the best !
As someone who had done social service case management, I'd be happy to share some advice and thoughts for your future career as a Social Worker.
Knowing a foreign language doesn't make you a good social worker but many qualities will. If you like a subject, you should take it for personal enrichment, but you'll need to explore the social work career more to discover the things that will make you a great social worker ! This career takes a lot of time to learn and the focus is on psychology and human behavior.
I had worked utilizing Spanish speaking interpreters with clients and sometimes their family members would be there to interpret. Some co-workers also knew Spanish and would interpret. I also used an interpreter program online to speak with the client. I have a very, very elementary ability with Spanish, but my pronunciation is good so they'd understand it. I mention this to let you know that there are alternatives for speaking with clients if you are not fluent in their language. I also had a lot of Deaf clients, but have the basics of ASL and know a few signs. It's never interfered with the work and you'll see that may be the same for you. Depending on what your work situation is, sometimes they assign Spanish speaking clients that do not speak English to fluent Spanish speaking social workers. I had ten years Deaf Services training and I was assigned mostly if not all of the Deaf clients.
When you start applying for work, you may see that it says in the notice that they are looking for a Bi-Lingual Spanish Social Worker, but most will not say that. There will be lots of work for you if you're not fluent in Spanish.
If your school offers courses in Psychology and Health Science, those would prepare you well for your college Social Work Major. Very keen writing, verbal and presentational skills are a must as you will be having a lot of meetings and writing a lot of reports as a Social Worker. These are the key factors that will help you excel in this career.
As a Social Worker, you will encounter clients that have issues that you've never even heard of before, so developing an unbiased perspective will help you greatly. You should have the mindset to be open to working with all populations.
So knowing the Spanish language may make you better developed as a person but doesn't make you a better Social Worker, other important things will.
The things that will make you a good social worker will be knowing the full breadth of theory and techniques of therapy. Something else would be having lots of experience before you apply for your first career job. This is the type of career that causes you to get better as time goes on because you are always learning through it and your clients will be important teachers for you, too.
I hope this helps and I wish you all the best !
Katie Jacobs
Consultant
12
Answers
Los Angeles, California
Updated
Katie’s Answer
Hey there, I’ll start out by saying that I think learning another language fluently is a great skill for anyone to have no matter how you apply it. However, in my experience, I took Spanish all four years of high school, including AP Spanish my senior year. I also took and passed the AP exam my senior year of high school which allowed me to skip taking a language at my university. Looking back, I kind of regret not continuing to explore the Spanish language in college because I have now lost a lot of my language familiarity. If I were you and you are interested in learning a new language like Spanish, I would dedicate to it and try to retain it as long as you can because number one it looks great on job applications and your résumé and number two it allows you to become a more diversified learner as well as traveler, and also reach across different cultures
Marta Zafra
3
Answers
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Updated
Marta’s Answer
Hi Danica,
Learning a new language is such a wonderful experience and can really boost your CV. It also gives you the chance to discover new cultures you might want to explore later. Just remember, practicing speaking is just as important as reading and writing. I recommend finding a buddy to practice with.
Best regards,
Marta
Learning a new language is such a wonderful experience and can really boost your CV. It also gives you the chance to discover new cultures you might want to explore later. Just remember, practicing speaking is just as important as reading and writing. I recommend finding a buddy to practice with.
Best regards,
Marta
Thank you for the advice.
Danica