Hopeful bilingual rep

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vivirloca33
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Hopeful bilingual rep

Postby vivirloca33 » Thu Nov 28, 2019 4:09 am

I currently work at an health insurance company call center and I am considering taking the bilingual csr position. I know I could past the test as it is a speaking test with my manager. I have lived abroad and I can have comfortable conversations in Spanish and can understand most of Caso cerrado

Wondering if studying the members handbook, doing active listening practice through transcription, and baselang will prepare me for the role after a month of study? This may be hard to gauge but just looking to see opinions.
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Xenops
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Re: Hopeful bilingual rep

Postby Xenops » Thu Nov 28, 2019 5:17 am

I agree, it is hard to gauge. Some thoughts to consider:

1. How comfortable are you with different accents?
2. Can you follow spoken conversations?
3. Will you need to know medical terminology in Spanish?

I guess take your work experience in English and see how hard it would be to do the same in Spanish.
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mentecuerpo
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Re: Hopeful bilingual rep

Postby mentecuerpo » Sat Nov 30, 2019 3:05 pm

One month may not be enough time to get there (unless you are already there).
I think it is a good idea to do skype sessions and get feedback from the native speaker. If you can find someone who teaches the language instead of just a native, a teacher will tell you about your level and if it is at the standards needed for your goal. I think you need to be B1 at the conversation level at a minimum.
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Re: Hopeful bilingual rep

Postby Axon » Sun Dec 01, 2019 1:45 am

Interesting! I've just started working in health insurance and I also use Spanish quite a lot in my day. On Monday I'll do a presentation in Spanish for the first time.

I would say that if you're already comfortable having conversations (of course it depends on what those are) then you're most of the way there. Health insurance vocabulary in Spanish is often quite similar to English, and there are many different accepted ways to say things.

Most of the major carriers have bilingual websites, glossaries, or FAQ sections. My advice would be to first make sure that you know all of that vocabulary quite well. One exercise is to read a piece on a website and then summarize it orally in Spanish while looking away from the page.

As for listening comprehension, you can find a lot of explainer or interview videos on YouTube in Spanish related to insurance. Search for simple stuff like "qué es coaseguro" or "gastos del bolsillo." It doesn't matter if the particular information you find is up-to-date or even about your own country - you just need to get a feel for how people discuss it in Spanish.
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vivirloca33
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Re: Hopeful bilingual rep

Postby vivirloca33 » Sat Dec 14, 2019 5:11 pm

Axon wrote:Interesting! I've just started working in health insurance and I also use Spanish quite a lot in my day. On Monday I'll do a presentation in Spanish for the first time.

I would say that if you're already comfortable having conversations (of course it depends on what those are) then you're most of the way there. Health insurance vocabulary in Spanish is often quite similar to English, and there are many different accepted ways to say things.

Most of the major carriers have bilingual websites, glossaries, or FAQ sections. My advice would be to first make sure that you know all of that vocabulary quite well. One exercise is to read a piece on a website and then summarize it orally in Spanish while looking away from the page.

As for listening comprehension, you can find a lot of explainer or interview videos on YouTube in Spanish related to insurance. Search for simple stuff like "qué es coaseguro" or "gastos del bolsillo." It doesn't matter if the particular information you find is up-to-date or even about your own country - you just need to get a feel for how people discuss it in Spanish.



Great advice thanks so much this month I have been reading the members manual in Spanish and going over the benefits with an Colombian instructor at my job thank you for the suggestion
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