Bilingual

Do you think EMS providers should have to learn other languages?

  • Total voters
    75
I voted "no". It should not be required but it would probably prove to be helpful.
 
No, not mandatory. Many people can't even speak or write English correctly when it's their native language, much less have the time and ability to learn another secondary language. I personally love learning Spanish and I learn more every day. I hate to say it, but being an EMT-B doesn't seem to be rocket science, and I think it hits the limits of some peoples educational ability. To demand them to learn something entirely different and non-medical would I think cause us to lose a lot of otherwise capable and productive EMTs. In less nice terms: Some folks are too dumb to learn Spanish, but smart enough to be effective EMTs.:)
 
Good post JCampbell.
Welcome to the forum.
 
I voted No, I mean like stated before, If i moved to Japan I would learn japanese, ect. I have taken 1yr German, 4yrs. Spanish, and 7yrs. French. Would that help me in my area. Nope, I did not learn medical terms in those class. I do fine speaking with another language and most of them have family that can translate. We also have a book like stated before for different languages we come across. I do not think it should be required but it would be helpful to learn how to say the words properly to express what you are trying to say.
 
JCampbell said:
No, not mandatory. Many people can't even speak or write English correctly when it's their native language, much less have the time and ability to learn another secondary language. I personally love learning Spanish and I learn more every day. I hate to say it, but being an EMT-B doesn't seem to be rocket science, and I think it hits the limits of some peoples educational ability. To demand them to learn something entirely different and non-medical would I think cause us to lose a lot of otherwise capable and productive EMTs. In less nice terms: Some folks are too dumb to learn Spanish, but smart enough to be effective EMTs.:)
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Welcome! and very true, I am with you 100%
 
Idont think they should have to learn a second language it should be everyones personal choice whether or not they want to learn one.
 
Interesting discussion... I am fluent in English and Hebrew (which proved to be very helpful, as I worked in Israel), but aside has done me no good. I would rather EMS providers spend the educational capitol, money and time on furthering their EMS education, which they could possibly use everyday, over language skills used once in a blue moon...
 
emt.dan said:
Interesting discussion... I am fluent in English and Hebrew (which proved to be very helpful, as I worked in Israel), but aside has done me no good. I would rather EMS providers spend the educational capitol, money and time on furthering their EMS education, which they could possibly use everyday, over language skills used once in a blue moon...
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Agreed, and Hebrew? I always wanted to learn that. Israel eh? how was it over there, a place I want to visit.
 
HAVE TO? No. However I do think it's a good idea. But there shouldn't be a requirement for it.
 
I took a few of years of Spanish classes when I was in school. It was never anything that I really had use for, living where I do. Arabic would have been a far more useful language to learn, actually. Still, now that I'm working, I run across patients that speak only Spanish. The first time this happened, my partner and I were completely at a loss for ways to communicate. My partner didn't speak any other language at all, and my spanish was very rusty--not that it mattered as I didn't really know how to ask anything relevant to an assessment. After that I decided to expand my vocabulary, focusing mainly on medical terms. I didn't find much use for much of anything in my books when I tried to review it aside from the basic anatomy terms.
I really only get to use it once a month or so, but when the situation arises it is definitely handy. I've also ended up translating for triage once we get to the ER.
 
Just for the record, I didn't mean Spanish only, I meant whatever second language is dominant in your area. Arabic, Russian, German.

So a lot of you think it's a really good idea, just don't feel you should be forced. Why?

What if, instead of a full Spanish or German or Russian class, one was required to take one that was geared specifically to medical personnel?

Do you feel employers would have the right not to hire you based on lack of being bilingual?
 
No, they should not have the right to decide on hiring people who can only speak multiple languages. Should it be bonus points on a resume? Of course.

Even in Texas, the vast majority of people I meet can speak English to some workable extent. Do I run in to the immigrants that butcher it or can't speak anything other then "Hello"? Yup. Buut those encounters rarely warrant my need to learn any more of the Spanish language then what I already have after 4 years of it.

Again, those people live in this country, so common sense dictates hey, to make life easier on them, they would learn the dominant language, as any reasonable person would do if moving to another country.
 
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What if the employed mandated that once hired the employee is to learn, say, German because they service a largely german speaking area, and pay for and provide the class to learn?

Would you still say no then? Why? To me it sounds like people are just getting indignant that they should adapt to fit their patients needs.
 
I have 4 years of Spanish, 2 years of French, and 4 years of German all from middle school to college, so I know how the game is played. I know that it can benefit people, and make them a slight bit more "well rounded" (hate that phrase).



Still against making it a requirement.


Police Departments down here pay an incentive to be bilingual, because it is a very Spanish speaking area. But they still don't make it a requirement.
 
Linuss said:
I have 4 years of Spanish, 2 years of French, and 4 years of German all from middle school to college, so I know how the game is played. I know that it can benefit people, and make them a slight bit more "well rounded" (hate that phrase).



Still against making it a requirement.


Police Departments down here pay an incentive to be bilingual, because it is a very Spanish speaking area. But they still don't make it a requirement.
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Why? Don't employers have the right to dictate what skills their employees have?
 
Oh, sure they have the right to mandate hiring criteria, but that's not the question. The question is should it be a requirement, and the answer from the majority of us is no, it shouldn't.
 
Sasha said:
What if the employed mandated that once hired the employee is to learn, say, German because they service a largely german speaking area, and pay for and provide the class to learn?

Would you still say no then? Why? To me it sounds like people are just getting indignant that they should adapt to fit their patients needs.
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Indignant if we are forced to adapt to fit the needs of the patient if they haven't tried to fit in with the rest of the U.S. But no one is saying that we provide lesser care. Learing another language (or several) is great if you want to do so; hell I'll probably be taking a quick conversations medical Spansih (refreasher) course locally this summer just because I agree that it is a good idea or those of us who want to provide the best care possible. But to make it a requirment and have it forced on us in order to provide care is not right or fair to us.

Sasha said:
Why? Don't employers have the right to dictate what skills their employees have?
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Now you are approaching a fine line of discrimination. What if your employeer came up to you tomarrow and said that the company is now requireing that all employees have 3 languages under their belt? Obviously employeers have the right to choose the best canidates based upon the criteria that they have set up for providing the best service to the population they serve. If they feel that knowing Spanish is what they need, then they can hire the one who speaks Spanish, but to reject those that do not without even considering the rest of their background and abilities boarders on discrimination, IMHO.
 
Mountain Res-Q said:
Indignant if we are forced to adapt to fit the needs of the patient if they haven't tried to fit in with the rest of the U.S. But no one is saying that we provide lesser care. Learing another language (or several) is great if you want to do so; hell I'll probably be taking a quick conversations medical Spansih (refreasher) course locally this summer just because I agree that it is a good idea or those of us who want to provide the best care possible. But to make it a requirment and have it forced on us in order to provide care is not right or fair to us.



Now you are approaching a fine line of discrimination. What if your employeer came up to you tomarrow and said that the company is now requireing that all employees have 3 languages under their belt? Obviously employeers have the right to choose the best canidates based upon the criteria that they have set up for providing the best service to the population they serve. If they feel that knowing Spanish is what they need, then they can hire the one who speaks Spanish, but to reject those that do not without even considering the rest of their background and abilities boarders on discrimination, IMHO.
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What if they are brand new to the US? What if they are trying to learn it but haven't gotten very far in their English yet. So are you indignant on having to adapt to them, too?
 
Sasha said:
What if they are brand new to the US? What if they are trying to learn it but haven't gotten very far in their English yet. So are you indignant on having to adapt to them, too?
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Once again: NOT ME!!! I agree that it is a good idea and would never withhold care because they fit this mold. I will try my best to communicate with them. If you are in an area that services a particular prominent language group, then YES, please learn it so tht you can provide teh best care. But your scenerio could be applied to any language. "What if they are new to the U.S. and speak only Swahili?" Well shame on us for not taking a few years to learn it? Making it MANDATORY that we conform to a language group is wrong, because where does it end? But shame on any of us if we serve a large Spanish (or any other language) population and fail to become at least conversational in medical Spanish lingo. Just as it is a "shame on them" if they feel no need to make the same effort in interacting with the rest of the community.
 
Most mexicans speak mexcian. Like English is to England and you get the point. Also, I see alot of people talking about immagrants and everything, and it is wrong of me to not learn their language. What about my people, I am native American. I don't see anyone jumping to learn my peoples or any of the others tribes around native tongue. I am just throwing that out their to anyone who thinks anyone else is wrong for not learning a secong language.
 
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