Toward the end of my shift today, the telephone rings. The clerks are changing shift and I'm not doing anything important, so I answer it. Here is the conversation:
Me: Labor and delivery. This is Jessica.
Caller: Russian?
Me: No, sorry. Do you speak any English?
Caller: No English. Blah blah blah russian russian russian baby blah blah blah.
Me: Is there anybody there who speaks English? I don't understand what you're saying.
Caller: Blah blah blah russian russian russian baby blah blah blah.
Me: Your wife is going to have a baby?
Caller: Baby. Da.
Me: OK, come into the hospital.
Caller: silence
Me: Come into the hospital if your wife is going to have a baby.
Caller: Baby. Da.
It was back and forth like this for, like, 5 minutes. I kept telling him I didn't understand. He obviously didn't understand me. Finally, and I felt terrible about this, but I hung up on him. Of course I told him I was going to hang up on him because I didn't know how to help him, but he didn't understand that either. But really, what else was I supposed to do?
So my question is, why did he bother to call is he didn't speak English? Maybe he was hoping someone there spoke Russian, but when it became obvious nobody did, whouldn't you just give up and come in? Or how about calling a friend who speaks English and have them call us? What on Earth could I have possibly done for this man? It was so weird...
5 comments:
You know, it is really hard to come up with something that isn't going to be really offensive. That's just me though. The point is, some people just EXPECT that there will be someone who speaks there language to help them at all times. And when I say EXPECT, I mean, it borders on DEMANDS that there is someone there to help them with THEIR language problems. Of course, I am all for people of different nationalities being allowed to speak their language freely here. However, you have to expect that sometimes, if you have not learned the English language, you will run in to some problems now and then. Just a fact.
I always try to look at is as "what if I had to live in China (the most exotic place I can think of) and had to make myself understood. I like to believe that either I would just accept that I would die with no one to understand my last utterings, or that I would learn some basic chinese and at least make an attempt however sorry, to be understood.
Really, it is not our responsibity as Americans to speak the language of every immigrant. It is THEIR responsibility to acclimate themselves to our culture as best they can. There was nothing else you could do. You were an angel to try as hard as you did for 5 minutes. I hang up on people almost immediately at work if I can't understand them. Harsh. No I don't think so.
I'd really like to know who you are, annonymous...
But I (and most people at work) agree with you both. We actually get this at work quite frequently. When they come in, it's easier because we have this phone what makes a 3-way call with an interpreter and we communicate that way, but over the phone, what can we do?
I actually had a "confrontation," for lack of a better word, about this with a Spanish-speaking family a while ago. One person spoke English, so obviously we used him to interpret (I can do Spanish but not well enough to explain everything, especially if it's important the patient really understands). He said to me, "You don't have anybody here who speaks Spanish?" I told him about the phone but no, we had nobody in person. He had the gall to tell me that we should. I, very politely, told him that that was not practical, to have staff on-hand who spoke every language. I thought maybe he resented being used as the interpreter so I offered the phone. He declined and was obviously annoyed. I just wanted to scream at him, "In no other country in the world would this be acceptable! You do not come to a country and demand they provide someone that speaks your language. It is your responsibility as an immigrant to a country to learn the language of the land."
On the other hand, the complete opposit does occur. Another of my patients last night was from Russia and had only been in the US for 7 months but she spoke English fluently.
It's just a matter of being a responsible immigrant.
We should all learn, spanish, japanese, chinese, turkish, french, iraqi, greek, korean, hawaiian, somoan, speak with an austrailian accent, a british accent, a canadian accent and icelandic. That way we can make everyone comfortable in OUR COUNTRY.
Also, be sure to have perfect manners with everyone at all times because it is important that they feel happy at all times.
Nani
You make me laugh, Nani!
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