Spanish textbooks

[Punks in Ontario]

Help! This is a bit of a long shot, but I don't know where to find these.

 

I have a young friend who's just starting med school in a Spanish country and is finding the cost of textbooks way high. Does anyone know of any cheap or used Spanish sites that might to helpful to this man. Money is very tight for him - so tight I'm concerned that he won't be able to finish.

 

Thank you sooo much for any help.

[chiguirre]

Sometimes they translate basic textbooks, but most of the time you need to be able to read English. Even in my MBA program (which you would think would have more topics translated) required students to use English textbooks. They were usually on reserve in the library and we made ample use of the photocopier. This isn't strictly legal, but really, the books cost more than the classes did and we didn't have a choice. There may be more medical books than business books in Spanish, try looking on Spanish or Mexican sites for those, but if he's in another country it can be almost impossible to get a book from those countries through the post/customs. It's always safest to hand carry expensive books. Luckily, customs officials rarely know how much they're worth unless you have to declare a value.

 

My sil is a pathologist and she buys books on Amazon when she's coming to the US or we're going to Venezuela. These things are mega-expensive, but she needs them for her practice so she buys them. They're all in English. TBH, my sil's spoken English is pretty poor, but she can read the books without any problem.

[Lanny]

I don't know what country your friend is in, but that medical school is probably not a good one, based on them using Spanish language textbooks.. The medical (and other) schools here use English language textbooks. Why? Because it takes a long time, and a lot of money, to translate a textbook that was written in English, into Spanish. The schools want to have the latest textbooks available, which are in English.

 

Where we lived before, 2 of our next door neighbors were M.D.s When one of their sons was in Medical school, he got into a horrible bind, and my wife and I translated several pages of something for him. Something we will never do again, because it took a tremendous amount of time and effort.

 

We have neighbors down the street who are Electronic Engineers. I don't speak English with them, but they can read it, very well, because all of their courses in a Public University in Colombia used English language textbooks. (I wonder if any of their daughters will become Electronic Engineers...)

 

Hopefully, your friend can find the textbooks needed, Used, from Amazon sellers, at lower prices. I believe Amazon has a site in Spain, but I'm not positive about that.

[Punks in Ontario]

It could be that he is using English books. The phone connection was poor last night and I couldn't completely get what he was saying. I'll try emailing him to find out.

[Lanny]

You can talk via Skype (audio only or audio+video), Skype to Skype, free. The quality is usually outstanding. I've read that the average cost of New textbooks, for undergraduate students in the USA, is about USD$1000 per year. I am sure it is more, for Medical school students. If he needs English language textbooks, hopefully he can find them from Sellers on Amazon.com GL

 

My belief is that any Medical textbook that is translated from English into Spanish would take several years to translate. The cost of doing that is very high.

[chiguirre]

Sometimes there are textbook rental services too. I'm sure that since everyone is in the same boat, he can either use the library reserve copy or rent the book. You might have to send money to pay for rental or photocopying, but it's much easier to send an international money order than to send books. In Texas, Walmart provides this service at the Customer Service counter. The only country this won't work well with is Venezuela that has exchange controls and an unrealistic official exchange rate. If that's your destination, pm me.

[Lanny]

<snip>The only country this won't work well with is Venezuela that has exchange controls and an unrealistic official exchange rate. If that's your destination, pm me.

 

Thank you, for making me laugh. I was, literally, LOL when I read that.... :-) After working on my U.S. Income Tax return (Overseas Americans get an Automatic Extension), the laugh helped me. :-)

[Punks in Ontario]

I checked with him and he says they are in Spanish. It could be because he's in the early years so far. I'm not sure how far along he is. Thanks so much for your help. I emailed him some ideas. He's in the Dominican Republic.

[Lanny]

My favorite singer/band live in the Dominican Republic, so I know a bunch of people there. If he can find the textbooks he needs, available at much lower prices, in the USA, he can probably get them shipped there, without any problems. There are probably companies like MailBoxesEtc, PostNet (like MailBoxesEtc), and Forwarders, that can receive anything he purchases from the USA, in their Miami, FL, USA offices and Forward to their office or his house in Santo Domingo.. I assume he is in Santo Domingo, which is the capital city.

 

In Colombia, textbooks (and I believe all books) are free of Colombian Taxes (VAT, Duty, etc.). Hopefully it is the same in "La Republica Dominicana".

 

GL to him

[Lanny]

If your friend wants to import lightweight (a few pounds) items from the USA, this is one possible option for him. I am certain there are other options, because there are a huge number of Dominicans in the NYC area. MailBoxesEtc has 11 offices in the Dominican Republic. Here is the URL: http://www.mbe.com.do/nosotros

 

I'm sure that the people he knows there can tell him about other companies and Forwarders.

 

The Colombian Forwarder that we use, charges a minimum of $19.50 to receive something and deliver it to our house. I believe that covers up to 6 pounds. If it is more than one item, then they add a charge, to "Consolidate" the items into one shipment, which saves us money.... More than 6 pounds, they charge per extra pound...

 

Textbooks (probably all books) arriving in Colombia do not pay any Colombian taxes, but I have NO idea what the regulations in the Dominican Republic are, or, what MailBoxesEtc would charge him for their service.

 

My guess is that he should look for the Spanish language textbooks he needs, both on Amazon.com (USA) and on the Amazon Spanish language web site (for Spain, etc.).

 

Probably there is not much, if any, demand for Spanish language Medical textbooks in the USA, but he may find some available by Amazon Sellers there. If the textbooks were Published in Spain, then he has a better chance of finding them on Amazon's web site for Spain.