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  • I need translator NOW!!

    I'm sitting at the window today and it was about 45 min from closing and we're not busy (yay!). In walks a hispanic man, unlike my coworkers I don't assume that he dosen't speak englsh. He hands me an order for an MRI ( they're don in another building) and I begin to tell him where he needs to go and he says he dosen't speak englsh. I get up to walk him to where he needs to be and he yells "you don have somone speaking spanish".. "no" I reply. He starts yelling at me because we don't have someone to translate.. we do but I'm not going to take him to the translation line to tell him to follow me. He is smacking his hand down on the counter infront of the window all upset because we don't speak spanish. I try to get him to come with me, but he refuses.
    I usher him back into one of our offices and put him on the translation line where we both speak to an operator who can translate for the both of us. He says he's here for a test and needs to know where to go and I said for him to follow me and I'll take him. He starts arguing with me, through the operator, about how it's bad that we don't speak spanish and treat them like this. I explain to him that it's after 5 and that we don't have access to anyone who speaks spanish for outpatients this late. He cusses at me and says some things that the operator refuses to translate. I have to walk him to the building that does the test and I'm sure he called me a b*tch when I turned around!!

    How dare he come in without a friend to help him (this test is sceduled almost a month out) and expect you to bend over backwards to help him and be rude about it.

  • #2
    Quoth 0oAmericanGirl View Post
    In walks a hispanic man, unlike my coworkers I don't assume that he dosen't speak englsh. He hands me an order for an MRI ( they're don in another building) and I begin to tell him where he needs to go and he says he dosen't speak englsh. I get up to walk him to where he needs to be and he yells "you don have somone speaking spanish".. "no" I reply. He starts yelling at me because we don't have someone to translate..
    You don't speak english, I don't speak spanish; sucks to be you, goodnight.
    And the sky was full of stars... and every star, an exploding ship, one of ours...

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    • #3
      I would have reminded him where he was, barring, of course, that you are an 0oAmericanGirl living in Mexico City.
      This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.

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      • #4
        You know, if he is too dumb to bring a translator along, and insists on speaking his native tongue, it probably would have served him better to stay in his native country. Where presumably they speak Spanish.

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        • #5
          Quoth RecoveringKinkoid View Post
          You know, if he is too dumb to bring a translator along, and insists on speaking his native tongue, it probably would have served him better to stay in his native country. Where presumably they speak Spanish.
          Or when he called to schedule a month ago, requested that there be a translater for his appointment. They couldn't be expected to be mindreaders to know he would be in and would need someone who spoke Spanish.

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          • #6
            you don have somone speaking spanish"
            Um, no. What country does this look like to you, smartass?
            "several million years for a monkey to turn into a man. oh wait thats right. monkeys dont live several million years."
            -FSTDT

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            • #7
              Interesting fact: English isn't the official language at the federal level in the United States. It's a more or less a de facto language and I just think that when our ancestors came here we were too lazy to make up our own language.

              On a sidenote, I'm the unofficial translator of my department. I speak French and Japanese, thankfully occasions of me translating are rare but I find it fun. The other day I had to give directions to some people in French and Japanese at the same night. I actually love the shocked yet happy looks the Japanese get when I say good night to them. Then again, a 6'2 brown haired green eyed American boy speaking it will do that to anyone.

              As for the OP, the SC was an idiot for not bringing in a translator. He planned it out months in advance, he knew that he would need a translator and yet he didn't go with one. People are amusing.
              The Grand Galactic Inquisitor hears all and sees all.

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              • #8
                Quoth ArenaBoy View Post
                Interesting fact: English isn't the official language at the federal level in the United States. It's a more or less a de facto language and I just think that when our ancestors came here we were too lazy to make up our own language.
                Surely, American is a language all on its own.
                ...but I'm a bastard and so desensitized to the scum of humanity that I'm immune to the Stun status effect.
                Quoth Gravekeeper

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                • #9
                  It may amuse you to know that English isn't the official language of England - like America, we don't have one defined in law. However, if you want to survive over here, you'd better learn at least some.

                  On an unamusing note, please don't take this down the tired route of a debate about official languages. It's closed down a number of threads in its time, and we have a thread over in Fratching for it.

                  Rapscallion

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                  • #10
                    Wanna know what's sad? Canada has two official languages-French and English-and yet I never get people angry that we don't have French translators around.
                    Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me!

                    I like big bots and I cannot lie.

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                    • #11
                      I agree with Raps.

                      There are already 3 different 'language' threads over at http://www.fratching.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12 (4 threads if you count the other forums) and we really do not need another one here.

                      That being said, some statistics:

                      There are an estimated 42.7 million Hispanic people in the US.
                      Spanish is spoken by almost 400 million people worldwide.
                      Half of the population in the Western Hemisphere speaks Spanish.
                      As of 1999, Spanish had approximately the same number of native speakers as English (leading English slightly 332 million people to 322 million people).
                      If you include the number of people who are fluent in Spanish as a second language, the total number of Spanish speakers in the world is well over 400 million people.
                      "Hispanic communities and varieties of the Spanish language have been maintained in the United States for well more than four centuries. In fact, Spanish actually antedates English in the areas that now make up the composite United States...the Spanish language is second only to Native American languages that were spoken for centuries prior to colonization.
                      Phillip M. Carter, North Carolina State University"

                      So, argue all you want over at 'fratching.com' that, if he wanted his medical services provided in Spanish, he should go back to his own country, or called ahead to let the English people providing the services know he was coming so they could accommodate him, but the fact is, if one takes into account those statistics, in some areas of the US, he could expect to receive medical services in his native language, as his language was there first.

                      The guy behaved badly, having a fit right off the bat because there wasn't a person present to translate. It's not as if your hospital didn't provide translation at all, or you weren't attempting to help him. What is the 'translation line'? I am assuming they are available 24/7.

                      I would think it would be to your hospital's advantage to have someone on staff at all times to offer translation. It makes things much easier for the patients and would certainly make it easier on the staff in order to provide proper medical treatment.

                      Quoth Acolyte View Post
                      Canada has two official languages-French and English-and yet I never get people angry that we don't have French translators around.
                      Possibly that is because there is more of an attempt in this country for people to become bilingual.
                      I'm from small town eastern Ontario, though, and we've had it happen here that a unilingual French person became upset at not having someone to serve them in French.
                      I have also been in Ottawa and heard many an English speaking person get pretty huffy that they couldn't get a service in English immediately, too.

                      Recently, as most people know, I was injured in the province of Quebec. While Canada does have two official languages, that province is predominately French speaking.
                      Translations by Gatekeeper aside, I received excellent medical service despite the fact that I had only a slight understanding of the French language.
                      This was a small little town in Quebec, yet the majority of people were more fluent in my language than I was in theirs, despite English not being their native tongue.
                      Had someone from their town been injured in my area, sadly, it would not be the same for them.
                      Last edited by Ree; 03-31-2007, 01:59 PM.
                      Too tired of living and too tired to end it. What a conundrum.

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                      • #12
                        Usually I don't side with the 'It's America, Speak English' crowd, but after this story, I'm starting to see their point.
                        "Because that's how magical meteoric size-altering space goo works." IMDB Message boards.

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                        • #13
                          Acolyte-
                          On several occasions I have dealt with people from the French speaking areas of Canada who have become quite irate with me because I don't speak French.

                          I speak American. (American really is different than English.) That's it. I have tried to learn other languages and failed miserably so I can't begrudge those who don't speak my language.

                          You know what I want?

                          A Bable Fish.
                          Last edited by NightAngel; 03-31-2007, 03:23 PM.
                          "I don't want any part of your crazy cult! I'm already a member of the public library and that's good enough for me, thanks!"

                          ~TechSmith 314
                          HellGate: London

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Ree View Post
                            I would think it would be to your hospital's advantage to have someone on staff at all times to offer translation. It makes things much easier for the patients and would certainly make it easier on the staff in order to provide proper medical treatment.
                            Most places probably wouldn't, unless it was consistently proven to the higher ups' satisfaction that it is necessary. A lot of places (hospitals included) only keep the bare minimum amount of staff on hand at any given time to keep payroll down.
                            Unseen but seeing
                            oh dear, now they're masquerading as sane-KiaKat
                            There isn't enough interpretive dance in the workplace these days-Irv
                            3rd shift needs love, too
                            RIP, mo bhrionglóid

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                            • #15
                              Expectations

                              I live exactly 15 minutes from the US/MEX border and out of all the times I have crossed into Mexico I have never met ANYONE who could speak English, and I could never expect that! We are fortunately taught Spanish as standard in our Public Schools on the US side over here, so people have come to expect service from us when they cannot offer the same courtesy.
                              I think if you want service from someone, it's your own duty to attempt to speak their language- even if you're really awful at it at least try! Whenever I go to Europe my broken Italian or French or whatever gets me a LOT more understanding than if I slammed my hand down and screamed at whomever in the great name of my fragmented language.

                              Its like the old saying: you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, hombre.

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