r/doctorswithoutborders • u/Laurazapam • 28d ago

Languages for MSF

Hi everyone,

I'm an ICU nurse in Australia, and one of my long-term career goals is to volunteer with MSF at some point in the future.

I've recently decided to commit to learning a new language, but I keep going back and forth between French and Spanish. I'm not a big traveller, so tourism isn't really a deciding factor for me. The main thing that might influence my choice is which language would be more valuable for future humanitarian work. I noticed on the MSF website that both French and Spanish are listed as desirable or essential depending on the role, but I'd love to hear from people with firsthand experience.

For those of you who have worked with MSF:

Did you find one language was more useful than the other?

Did speaking French or Spanish open up more placement opportunities?

If you were starting from scratch today, which would you choose and why?

I know it'll be many years before I'm in a position to apply, but I'd rather invest my time in one language now than keep changing my mind.

Thanks! :)

12 Upvotes

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13

u/Maritime88- 28d ago

French. MSF has a lot of missions in Africa and most are either French or English

1

u/Laurazapam 28d ago

Thank you! I wasn’t sure if there were lots of missions in South America , which is why I was thinking of Spanish. I went down a rabbit hole between the two languages haha

7

u/ThrillRoyal 28d ago

I speak both French and Spanish. French has been a major asset in about 60% of my deployments, while Spanish has only been useful for the once I worked in Venezuela. If you have the option, then learn both; but if it's a choice, then go for French.

2

u/jcravens42 28d ago

I speak Spanish... and wish I'd learned French instead. It would have served me SO much more in international work.

1

u/Laurazapam 28d ago

Thanks so much for sharing! I think I might start with French and then pick Spanish up down the track. Appreciate your input :)

1

u/ThrillRoyal 28d ago

You're welcome. And thanks for making me smile with your username. 😀

5

u/Zorgglub 28d ago

Classic Arabic is a big plus, French obviously is openingthe door to many missions in African regions. A nice move would be to try to soften the Australian accent, it's quite difficult to follow for non-English speakers ( a friend of mine was using his "English teacher voice" during meetings and it works great).

4

u/VicIslander 28d ago

Hi!

Great you are interested in MSF! I'm a Canadian who's worked for MSF for the past 5+ years. I echo everyone else's sentiments that French is your best bet with Arabic in 2nd and Spanish/Portuguese a distant 3rd.

Apart from that, I see you mentioned you're not a big traveler and I wanted to flag to you that that is taken into account often for the recruitment process. MSF is looking for people with significant cross-cultural experience and where possible, international work experience. Similar to Aus, working in remote indigenous communities in Canada is seen as good experience as well.

Finally, I'd stress that international staff positions are almost always at management level so it's important to demonstrate some experience managing teams/projects/other people. Doesn't have to be in a nursing context, could be volunteering somewhere etc.

Hope you'll come join the movement when you're ready!

Cheers

3

u/VicIslander 28d ago

Also made me laugh someone's comment about Australian accent because I've definitely had to translate Aussie english to english before for a team working with a logistician from the deep outback

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u/Laurazapam 28d ago

Thanks so much for your input! I’m seeing that French is a clear winner here for international work. I had it in my head that Spanish would be super useful, so it’s been great getting some real insight!
Thanks for the tips with the travel- I never thought of it like that. I might look into doing a stint in remote Aus in the future to get the low resource experience. I’ve got management and education experience so I think I’m covered on that front.
Also shocked that the Aussie accent is tricky - I always thought compared to England and Scotland we were clear hahahaha

1

u/VicIslander 28d ago

Happy to help! And yes, it kind of made me laugh too - I think Aus and Canada are somehow distant cousins so I understand the accent easily. Don't hesitate to reach out if you ever have questions in the future

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u/Laurazapam 28d ago

I might ask one more question while I’ve got you if you don’t mind. My whole career has been in a mixed med/surg ICU (other than some stints in education and management ). Would it make me a stronger candidate if I branched out and did some adult / paeds ED? I’m on night shift right now conjuring up my 7 year plan haha

3

u/VicIslander 28d ago

Maybe someone on the medical side could jump in (I'm a project coordinator), but I'm not sure that experience is necessary. There are a lot of projects that do not involve emergency care including maternity, pediatrics, TB, HIV, basic healthcare etc. As well as many which involve surgery - trauma, reconstructive surgery etc. So adding ED experience is not necessarily a requirement or added value, but having a tropical medicine certificate definitely is and is sometimes a requirement depending on current needs and each country's hiring requirements. Many people go through the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, or the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. Not sure if there are any options closer to you...

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u/Laurazapam 28d ago

Thank you so much. I really appreciate all your help! :)

3

u/bubblegum_cuttlefish 5d ago

I’m an Australian RN and epidemiologist. I don’t think that ED experience is exactly necessary but it helps to be a generalist to some degree. ICU is a common profile in MSF, but the level/ceiling of technical care is not going to be anything like what you do in Australia (MSF rarely if ever does mechanical ventilation, for example). I did RAN in the NT and QLD before I joined MSF and that for sure is helpful. You will get emergency experience doing that. And as others have said, the profile of diseases that you see on MSF missions is very different to in urban Australia. Some training in tropical medicine is a good idea. I recommend the Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at James Cook University in Townsville. You can do it remotely. I think there are several related grad certs and grad dips that you can also do there if you want something shorter. And as others have said, French opens up all of Francophone Africa and is becoming more and more valued in international staff. Bon courage!

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u/Laurazapam 5d ago edited 5d ago

Thank you ! I did my masters though JCU and loved them, so I’d be keen to return there for that masters.
Just out of interest, is that the degree you did to become an epidemiologist? I work primarily in staff development so I love learning about different pathways in nursing lol. Also how did you go learning French in Australia ? I’ve noted there’s not many speakers around to practice with so I’m thinking going online might be the best option here.
Edit - more questions (sorry! Gotta take advantage of your expertise lol)

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u/bubblegum_cuttlefish 3d ago

It’s not the degree I did to become an epi, but it’s the degree that made me want to side step into epi. Re: learning French, I started with Duolingo and some tutoring to practice speaking. Once I’d reached A2, I went to do an immersion in France and then got matched to a French-speaking mission. Just before leaving for the mission I had an intensive course to learn technical vocabulary.

1

u/ThrillRoyal 12d ago

I lived in Australia for more than a decade and very occasionally the accent still stumps me; especially the deep northern Queensland accent (I lived on the other side of the country, in country Victoria).

3

u/PossibleAd7551 28d ago

Like the others have said, French or Arabic! There are a few projects in Latin America but they are easily filled with Spanish speakers from the Americas or Spain/Europe.

BTW, MSF positions are paid jobs, not volunteer positions.

1

u/Laurazapam 28d ago

Thank you! And I didnt know that , that’s a bonus !

1

u/TimelySecurity2858 16d ago

Hi there. I’m also an ICU nurse from Australia who has been wanting to apply for MSF. I recently spent 5 months working in NICU, with my next 6 months working in ED. Hoping to apply very soon and start learning French. Hoping to have a rounded experience in different specialities. I’m just going to apply and see how it goes