Most people don’t think of language
as being a dangerous barrier when it comes to life-threatening situations. When
I was 4 years old, I was diagnosed with Anaphylaxis’s, meaning that I go into
severe shock when I eat foods that I am allergic to, causing my throat to swell
shut and making me have to seek immediate emergency medical treatment. Living
with something like this has been very scary for both me and my parents, but my
parents have also been determined for me to experience a normal life, and share
their passion of traveling. The foods that I can’t eat (all nuts, sesame
products, and seafood) are easily avoidable, but the fact that I have an
allergy has to be communicated to whoever is preparing my food no matter where
I go, even if I am traveling and it has to communicated in a language that is
other than English.
I have traveled to many places where non-English
speakers are serving my food, such as Mexico, Hawaii, and parts of Europe, and I
have had to learn how to communicate how serious my food allergies are in
languages that I do not normally speak. I have worked with my allergy doctor, school
teachers, and online resources to learn enough of the language to communicate
what I need to say at restaurants. It can be hard to not only say the words in
the different language, but also communicate the seriousness of the message I
am conveying, while not speaking the language fluently. There are also many
restaurants even in the US that I have been to where the chefs and wait staff are not English speakers.
Below I have listed two different
translations of what I would typically have to say if I was in a restaurant environment
in a different country. I’m using Spanish and French as examples, because they
are the two main languages that I have had to use in different countries. The differences
between the two phrases are the emphasis on the allergy that I have, in Spanish
the word used to do this is “muy” and in French is its “trés”.
Putting in an adjective such as muy or tres (both translating into “very”), is
one strategy I have learned in order to communicate my point of how serious my allergies are.
Spanish:
I am allergic to nuts- soy alergico a las nueces
I am severely allergic to nuts- Soy muy alérgico a las nueces
French:
I am allergic to nuts- Je suis allergique aux noix
I am severly allergic to nuts-Je suis très allergique aux
noix
Knowing how to communicate a serious medical conditions in another language is an important life-skill for anyone who is interested in traveling to new places. I personally try not to view languages as a "barrier" because knowing different languages can provide endless opportunities. Learning how to convey my condition in other languages has just added to the knowledge that I have of the language and made me closer to those who speaking it.
Nice post! I think you bring up a really interesting perspective that is perhaps overlooked in our class. Having worked in the food industry before, my primary concern when a customer didn't speak English was always "I'm not going to get their order correct". It never once occurred to me that there might be some medical implications to that lack of understanding.
ReplyDeleteYour post also makes me think about the "language barriers" that can happen even when two people are speaking the same language and dialect. For example, you could be at the doctors office for some surgery or treatment and depending on how technical the doctor's level of discourse is, you may have absolutely no idea what they are saying. The doctor might as well be speaking another language! So in that case, it is then the responsibility of the doctor to communicate with the patient in such a way that they can understand the implications of their surgery or treatment.