Practice dialogues › Spanish › Health
Asthma Attack in the Emergency Department
Nurse (speaking English) and Patient (speaking Spanish) talk through “Asthma Attack in the Emergency Department”. You interpret both ways — English into Spanish, and Spanish into English — one segment at a time, exactly as in the CCL test.
Practise this dialogue with AI marking →Read it first if you like, then practise it cold: the recording plays one segment, you interpret, the next segment plays. Marking shows, segment by segment, what you kept, left out or changed.
Full transcript with model answers
Under each segment: a model interpretation, the information points an examiner checks, and the easiest thing to miss. Try the segment yourself first, then open it. The model is one good way to say it; other wordings that keep every point score just as well.
Ms. Molina, can you tell me exactly what happened this morning that triggered such a sudden breathing difficulty?
Model answer and marking points
Señora Molina, ¿puede contarme exactamente qué pasó esta mañana que le provocó una dificultad para respirar tan repentina?
What an examiner checks here:
- question: what exactly happened this morning
- trigger of the breathing difficulty
- breathing difficulty was sudden
- addressed to Ms. Molina
Easy to miss: Keep it as an open question about the trigger, and don't drop 'sudden' or 'exactly'.
Desde las tres de la madrugada empecé a sentir opresión en el pecho, tosía mucho y me costaba respirar; usé el inhalador pero no mejoró.
Model answer and marking points
Since three in the morning I started feeling tightness in my chest, I was coughing a lot and I was finding it hard to breathe; I used my inhaler but it didn't get better.
What an examiner checks here:
- onset at 3 am
- chest tightness
- coughing a lot
- difficulty breathing
- used inhaler
- negation: no improvement
Easy to miss: 'Tres de la madrugada' is 3 am, not 3 pm, and the inhaler did NOT help.
Before you arrived, how many puffs of your reliever inhaler did you take, and did you remember to use your spacer device?
Model answer and marking points
Antes de llegar aquí, ¿cuántas inhalaciones de su inhalador de rescate se puso, y se acordó de usar la cámara espaciadora?
What an examiner checks here:
- question: how many puffs taken
- reliever inhaler (not preventer)
- time frame: before arriving
- question: did she remember to use the spacer
Easy to miss: Two separate questions; 'reliever inhaler' is the rescue inhaler and the spacer is 'cámara espaciadora', not a generic 'aparato'.
Tomé cuatro inhalaciones seguidas, pero no usé la cámara espaciadora porque la olvidé en casa.
Model answer and marking points
I took four puffs in a row, but I didn't use the spacer because I left it at home.
What an examiner checks here:
- four puffs
- taken one after the other
- negation: did not use the spacer
- reason: forgot it at home
Easy to miss: 'Seguidas' means in a row; keep the number four and the negation about the spacer.
Your oxygen saturation is currently ninety-one percent, which is quite low, so we will start a nebuliser treatment with Ventolin immediately to help you breathe.
Model answer and marking points
Su saturación de oxígeno está ahora en noventa y uno por ciento, que es bastante baja, así que vamos a empezar de inmediato un tratamiento con nebulizador con Ventolin para ayudarle a respirar.
What an examiner checks here:
- oxygen saturation 91%
- described as quite low
- nebuliser treatment
- medication: Ventolin
- start immediately
- purpose: help her breathe
Easy to miss: Keep 91 percent exact and 'immediately'; don't swap Ventolin for a generic 'medicine'.
¿Eso me ayudará rápido? Tengo miedo porque nunca me habían puesto una máscara de oxígeno así antes.
Model answer and marking points
Will that help me quickly? I'm scared because I've never had an oxygen mask like this put on me before.
What an examiner checks here:
- question: will it help quickly
- she is afraid
- never had an oxygen mask before
- negation: never before
Easy to miss: 'Nunca ... antes' is a double emphasis on never before; keep it a question, not a statement.
This nebuliser should ease your breathing within about fifteen minutes; however, if it doesn't improve, we'll admit you to Nepean Hospital for closer monitoring overnight.
Model answer and marking points
Este nebulizador debería aliviarle la respiración en unos quince minutos; pero si no mejora, la vamos a ingresar en el Hospital Nepean para vigilarla más de cerca durante la noche.
What an examiner checks here:
- nebuliser should ease breathing
- within about 15 minutes
- condition: if no improvement
- admit to Nepean Hospital
- closer monitoring
- overnight
Easy to miss: Fifteen minutes, not fifty; the admission is conditional on no improvement and is overnight.
Entiendo. ¿Necesitaré quedarme internada o podré volver a casa hoy mismo?
Model answer and marking points
I understand. Will I need to stay in hospital, or will I be able to go home today?
What an examiner checks here:
- acknowledges understanding
- question: need to be admitted / stay in
- question: or go home today
- today itself (hoy mismo)
Easy to miss: 'Internada' means admitted as an inpatient; keep both halves of the either/or question.
If your peak flow reading reaches at least seventy percent of your personal best, you'll be able to go home today with a written asthma action plan.
Model answer and marking points
Si su medición de flujo máximo llega por lo menos al setenta por ciento de su mejor marca personal, podrá irse a casa hoy con un plan de acción para el asma por escrito.
What an examiner checks here:
- peak flow reading
- condition: at least 70%
- of her personal best
- go home today
- written asthma action plan
Easy to miss: 'At least seventy percent of personal best' is the threshold; don't say 70% oxygen, and keep 'written'.
Eso me tranquiliza. ¿Cuándo debo ver a mi médico de cabecera para el seguimiento?
Model answer and marking points
That's reassuring. When should I see my GP for the follow-up?
What an examiner checks here:
- she feels reassured
- question: when to see GP
- GP = médico de cabecera
- purpose: follow-up
Easy to miss: 'Médico de cabecera' is the GP, not a specialist or head doctor.
Please see your GP within three days, continue using the spacer correctly every time, and avoid any smoke exposure, otherwise your symptoms could return quickly.
Model answer and marking points
Por favor, vea a su médico de cabecera dentro de tres días, siga usando bien la cámara espaciadora todas las veces y evite cualquier exposición al humo; si no, los síntomas podrían volver rápidamente.
What an examiner checks here:
- see GP within three days
- keep using spacer correctly
- every time
- avoid any smoke exposure
- otherwise symptoms could return quickly
Easy to miss: 'Within three days' is a deadline, not 'in three days' time; keep all three instructions plus the consequence.
Muchas gracias, doctora. Seguiré todas las indicaciones y evitaré el humo para no tener otra crisis.
Model answer and marking points
Thank you very much, doctor. I'll follow all the instructions and I'll avoid smoke so I don't have another attack.
What an examiner checks here:
- thanks the doctor
- doctor is female
- will follow all instructions
- will avoid smoke
- purpose: avoid another attack
Easy to miss: 'Crisis' here is an asthma attack, not a crisis; keep 'all' the instructions.
Terms in this dialogue that cost marks
CCL is marked on information transferred. These Australian terms have no direct word in most test languages — get one wrong and the segment's information is gone.
- Asthma action planSe traduce como 'plan de acción para el asma'.
Practise it
Reading a transcript is not interpreting. The practice room on this site plays each segment at native speed, records you, and marks the information you transferred against the same categories examiners use — omissions, distortions, insertions — so you know where the marks went. Your first full dialogue is marked free.
Start this dialogue →More Spanish dialogues
Same topic · Health
Spanish CCL: practice test, vocabulary, test dates
How the test works
Practice dialogue written to the CCL specification (two speakers, segments of 35 words or fewer, about 300 words). It is a practice text, not a NAATI test paper, and the AI score is this site's estimate, not a NAATI result. All Spanish dialogues · All languages