Speech Pathology

Question

Hello,My name is Amanda and I am from Australia and the only language I speak is English. I am about to begin my Masters in Speech Pathology here in Australia. My fiance is from Germany, and in all likeliness we will move there to live in the near future. While I am learning to read, write and speak German, I am nowhere near fluent. Does anybody know what it is like to be an English-speaking speech pathologist in a non-English speaking country? Is this even possible?Any advice will be greatly appreciated.Thank you!Amanda.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

'In all likelihood'. But I'm sorry, I can tell you nothing about Germany.

Amanda Grace · Answer

Likeliness is also correct.

Mister Micawber · Answer

Please show me what you have found, Amanda. I can find no online dictionary definitions of your phrase, though I found this:

in all likelihood
adverb
with considerable certainty; without much doubt; "He is probably out of the country"; "in all likelihood we are headed for war" [syn:probably]

And these are the COCA corpus results:

in all likelihood: 559 references.
in all likeliness: 0 references

CalifJim · Answer

Amanda GraceDoes anybody know what it is like to be an English-speaking speech pathologist in a non-English speaking country?

Not from personal experience. I can only imagine. I would not consider it a realistic goal.

CJ

Raindoctor · Answer

Just ask yourself a hypothetical question, just by replacing Australia with Germany, English with German.

"My name is Amanda and I am from Germany and the only language I speak is German. I am about to begin my Masters in Speech Pathology here in Germany. My fiance is from Australia, and in all likeliness we will move there to live in the near future. While I am learning to read, write and speak English, I am nowhere near fluent. Does anybody know what it is like to be an German-speaking speech pathologist in a non-German speaking country? Is this even possible?"

Everything is possible, if one has enough resources, connections and time.

Amanda Grace · Answer

Thank you, raindoctor. Your response has been very helpful. I also very much like the way you turned it around, and made ME answer the question myself. Thank you.

I have come to the realisation that I will need to be proficient in German, no matter my choice of career and profession. So, since I will be learning to communicate fluently in German regardless, there is no reason why I shouldn't continue this path of speech pathology. I have corresponded with a number of speech therapists in Germany, who have told me that German doesn't need to be my first language, but I do need to be fluent.

Anonymous · Answer

Do you know how much a Speech Therapist earns a year or a month? I would like to know because I'm planning to study that in Germany. I am a foreign language teacher and after a while I really would like to become a Speech Therapist. I'm learning already German and Spanish is my mother tongue.

Amanda Grace · Answer

No, sorry. As a profession, it does pay well. However, your salary will depend upon where you work and what area you specialise in.

Raindoctor · Answer

If I were a decision maker, I would not recommend people to any speech pathologist, who has a trace of foreign accent. Just getting a degree means that one knows what is in the books. Such a pathologist can describe, but can't perform. Imagine a swimming trainer, who doesn't know all techniques of swimming yet knows all swimming theories. I dont like to get trained by such a swimmer. Same with any other skill.

Often times, descriptions don't work. There, the speech pathologist has to show. Being a native speaker helps when one does not know how to describe; one just performs it.

I think, State of Arizona doesn't want any Foreign sounding English teachers to teach English to kids there. I saw some speech pathologists (with foreign accent) in California taking personal classes from another native-born speech pathologist.

I am not trying to criticize foreign accented speech pathologists. They just lack the training necessary. If one wants to become a speech pathologist in the states, master articulatory phonetics, take knight-thompson speech work, etc. They need to sweat to acquire all skills: from recognizing to reproducing sounds, tones. etc. Just a masters in SPL does not teach these skills.

Anonymous · Answer

Hi, Amanda.

I am a speech therapist from the Philippines living here in Salzburg for almost 3 years. You have to research very well how your degree can be accredited in Germany. There is a process which can be very complicated and long. I haven't even begun with this process because here in Austria, I would have to compare my curriculum from the Philippines to the curricula of Logopädie (Speech and Language Therapy) offered in the colleges here. I am also going to German language courses here, but I know that being accredited might take a while. What I am not sure is, if it is allowed to work privately as an English Speaking SLT, or if the national organization will recognize or accept your (future) practice.

Speech Pathology

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