Medical Maven
Describe symptoms precisely, follow a diagnosis, and confirm medication instructions — out loud, in Spanish.
Advanced medical Spanish is about structure: give every symptom a what, where, how much, and since when — qué, dónde, cuánto, desde cuándo. Expect the doctor's pain scale, del uno al diez, ¿cuánto le duele?, and the diagnosis framing lo que usted tiene es…. Precision matters: dolor agudo is sharp pain, dolor crónico is chronic, molestia is mere discomfort. Then confirm the treatment by repeating back dosage, timing, and precautions — la dosis, when to take it, what to avoid — before you leave with the receta.
Below: the vocabulary by stage — symptoms, diagnosis, medication, procedures, the healthcare system — how patients actually phrase it country by country, and a way to rehearse the whole consultation out loud, no flashcards involved.
Say this
Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| the flu | la gripa | la gripe |
| an X-ray | la radiografía | una placa |
| medications | las pastillas | los remedios |
| health coverage | el IMSS / el Seguro | la obra social |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
You don't drill this vocabulary — you use it the way a patient has to. In the Medical Maven lessons, Olivia plays the specialist: she opens warmly — ¿qué le anda pasando? — and you describe una punzada with its location, intensity, and how long you've had it. She delivers a diagnosis with lo que usted tiene es… and you ask her to put it in plain Spanish. Then the part people get wrong in real clinics: she gives you la dosis and the follow-up plan, and you repeat it all back — timing, precautions, consulta de seguimiento — out loud, until confirming instructions in Spanish feels routine.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Medical Maven is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
The standard question is del uno al diez, ¿cuánto le duele? — the same 1-to-10 scale used in the US. Answer with the right word for the kind of pain: dolor agudo (sharp), dolor crónico (chronic), or just molestia (discomfort).
Same illness, different region: la gripa in Mexico — me dio gripa — and la gripe almost everywhere else. Colombians also reach for the catch-all me dio una virosis for any viral bug.
¿Lo tiene genérico? — understood at pharmacies across Latin America. Note the register split for the medicine itself: medicamento is formal, pastillas is everyday Mexican, and Argentines say remedios.
El análisis de sangre — patients say me van a sacar sangre — and la radiografía, which in Argentina becomes me hacen una placa. For a lab order in general, Colombians say me mandaron exámenes.
"I was discharged" — alta médica always travels with the verb dar. Its counterpart is el ingreso hospitalario (admission), and the visit after discharge is la consulta de seguimiento or, in Mexico, volver a revisión.
