NHS Services

[Richard]

As a further aside arising from my wife’s visit to the hospital today, I came face to face with the other side of immigration while in the oncology unit. A woman turned up, apparently for a 09:30 appointment but there was no Albanian interpreter available. The woman’s husband apparently had little grasp of English and was at home anyway. The woman had to be sent away with a new appointment for next week when hopefully the NHS will have laid on an interpreter. Happily when we were in Japan at least some of the staff spoke English and we did have the services of an interpreter we brought along. My attempts to learn Japanese were less than stellar, though I could just struggle by with Gynaecologists and pharmacists for some of the time.

It was unclear how long the woman and her husband had lived here, but she must have been in her late 50s. I wondered how much adapting she had attempted, I was in Japan for only 4 years but I suspected the couple had been here longer. I could only think that their quality of life must be very restricted.

While in the Middle East I even met local staff who learned other languages to a fluent level by watching foreign films. That was not something I could easily do and possible I could never do. The everyday language is another matter, though I never did get too far with Arabic, the local staff were more keen to practise English than help a foreigner learn Arabic.

[dwynnehugh]

A good point has been made but based on my own experience in the police – when we had foreign nationals in custody – immigration matters – we had to use something which I recall sounded like ‘Language Line’ – we phoned a number saying we wanted a certain language interpreter. We generally got one but for the very much out of the ordinary languages the cost was astronomical and many times we’d be speaking to someone in the USA!!

Same in Wales there are areas that don’t have doctors who want to go there and the locals take umbrage that the locum – he/she cannot speak to them in Welsh!  Seems to me that some of my countrymen/women would rather be ill than speak English to alleviate their problems!

The more you meet people the more you understand why Noah took animals instead of humans

[Ed P]

I once mortally offended my wife’s Bank Manager. I picked up the phone and a lady with a VERY broad (probably lowland) Scottish accent spoke to me. I can honestly say I could only pick out one word in ten, so I apologised and asked if it would be possible for an native English-speaking person to talk to me!

[Richard]

dwynnehugh wrote:

A good point has been made but based on my own experience in the police – when we had foreign nationals in custody – immigration matters – we had to use something which I recall sounded like ‘Language Line’ – we phoned a number saying we wanted a certain language interpreter. We generally got one but for the very much out of the ordinary languages the cost was astronomical and many times we’d be speaking to someone in the USA!! Same in Wales there are areas that don’t have doctors who want to go there and the locals take umbrage that the locum – he/she cannot speak to them in Welsh! Seems to me that some of my countrymen/women would rather be ill than speak English to alleviate their problems!

I expected them to use something like the line you wrote about, the interpreter option is, or used to be very expensive years ago. I hate to think about today’s costs.

Some people were, are and always will be very sniffy about using their chosen language and no other. As for me – one phrase covers my needs, Please fix me, (the language you use is your choice).

I take Ed’s point, heavily accented voices are a real pain and there are only so ways to say it is a bad line – though it is always a bad line on the mobile at home.

[The Duke]

I’m sure they could of got by with the Google translate app.

[Bob Williams]

My reaction:

This is the United Kingdom. Here our native languages are English, Welsh, Gaelic and Cornish, but the major language of the country is English. If you cannot be bothered to speak to me in the language of my country, and you wish to live and work here, I cannot converse with you. If I wished to live and work in your country, I would make an effort to learn your native language. Which is why I learned to speak German, when I did live and work there.

Having said that, I do not extend the same reaction to tourists: On two occasions over the years, I was happy to help older German speakers with translation problems. I would not have that problem with younger Germans, all of whom are taught English in school.

If some political figure with no axe to grind (HA!) would look into the cost of translation services throughout public and private bodies in this country, it would probably amount to a sum that might provide a reasonable funding relief for the NHS.

 

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[D-Dan]

Bob Williams wrote:

If some political figure with no axe to grind (HA!) would look into the cost of translation services throughout public and private bodies in this country, it would probably amount to a sum that might provide a reasonable funding relief for the NHS.

Or simply expect someone hoping to work in public service in a country where English is the main language to speak English. Just saying.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[dwynnehugh]

The problem is that NHS Wales and all other public bodies HAVE to provide a Welsh language service by law even if realistically only ONE person ever uses it. One of the major problems in parts of north Wales is the insistence of the need to speak Welsh as a major factor in gaining employment – however I do have a very warm feeling (somewhere) when I know that we Welsh speakers get THE best officials ‘cos all the best officials speak Welsh don’t they? !!!!

One doctor on the radio the other day stated quite clearly that having left the Welsh hinterland for the bright lights of Cardiff Medical School as a student, there was no possible incentive for him to come back especially if he, his family were not Welsh speakers and did not want to learn it either – fair point.  Welsh medium primary education only (in some parts) – English is seen as a foreign language with some almost to the same fervour as Trump views Kim Jong-un.

The more you meet people the more you understand why Noah took animals instead of humans

[Bob Williams]

I never forget the first time I followed my Family History research to North Wales. I wound up in Corris, between Machynlleth and Dolgellau. Hearing my wife and myself speaking English was the cue for everyone around us to converse in Welsh. (When some had previously been speaking English) I didn’t allow it to bother me, but told one person that I was researching family history and trying to trace ancestors: Williams on my side, Griffiths on my wife’s. Instant friendship! They took me to a house where the last Williams there had passed away. Unfortunately, although he had been related to an ancestor, he died childless, having been married to a Jones.

Not to be outdone, the same person took me to the churchyard where both had been buried and showed me the grave. “Very well respected in the village, you see, very popular they were.” The male in the grave was named William Robert and I am Robert William. I couldn’t help a goose bump or two at that. The churchyard itself was beautifully situated and amazing: all on the side of a steep hill, the graves terraced in rows going down, each headstone supported by extra stone. That was a bit chilling too: back home in Notts, my church was also built on the second highest hill in the county, although not steep enough to mean terracing the graves. My parents are at the bottom of this hill, brother at the top.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

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