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LucidResq

LucidResq

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What are some common languages (besides English) that are spoken in your area?

What is your area?

Is there a significant enough number of non-English speaking people in your community to warrant efforts (as an EMS provider) to learn their language (or some of it)?

Do you speak any languages besides English? If so, which ones, and how proficient are you?

Do you feel that there are enough bilingual EMS personnel to meet the needs of your community?

Just curious :)
 
I'll give you my perspective:

- Denver Metro Area, Colorado

- Gigantic Spanish-speaking population. Also large Russian-speaking and Vietnamese-speaking populations. Many speak little English.

- Out here, it's absolutely advantageous to speak Spanish. It's difficult to get hired without any Spanish. For many agencies it's basically an unwritten requirement.

- I speak some Spanish. I'm working on it :)

- There are loads of ER nurses/doctors/techs and police that are fluent, but it seems like EMS is just a little behind the curve in some areas. It seems like those who speak Spanish are either extremely fluent or very shaky. There are several people in EMS out here that spoke Spanish first or grew up in a bilingual household. I feel like if someone calls 911 in this area they will usually be able to talk to someone who speaks Spanish fluently... from dispatch to prehospital to the ER. In the ER, interpretation (by phone or in person) is usually easily accessible for the rarer languages.
 
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Well, I am starting to learn how to speak Drunk & BS from the patients

I do know some French but don't think it would be of much use around here.

I would assume most people's issues are English & Spanish.
 
I live in the south central part of WA state. In my fire district's area, we have about 5000 people in 240 sq. miles. In the one town (pop. about 1800) 90% of the residents are Spanish speaking with a large majority of those being Spanish speaking only.

Unfortunately, we can't seem to find any type of course to teach us Spanish like there is for those taking English as a Second Language (ESL) that would be suitable for fire/rescue.
 
ffemt8978 said:
I live in the south central part of WA state. In my fire district's area, we have about 5000 people in 240 sq. miles. In the one town (pop. about 1800) 90% of the residents are Spanish speaking with a large majority of those being Spanish speaking only.

Unfortunately, we can't seem to find any type of course to teach us Spanish like there is for those taking English as a Second Language (ESL) that would be suitable for fire/rescue.
Click to expand...

Are there "Spanish for Healthcare Providers" courses available in your area?
 
LucidResq said:
Are there "Spanish for Healthcare Providers" courses available in your area?
Click to expand...

Nope...nearest college is an hour away, and they're not interested in providing that type of course. :sad:

They want us to enroll in the school and take Spanish while pursing a degree, or sock us with prerequisites (like English) before we can take any classes. In addition, they require you to take the ASSET/COMPASS test for pursing a degree, taking 10 or more credits, or taking any math/English courses.
 
ffemt8978 said:
Nope...nearest college is an hour away, and they're not interested in providing that type of course. :sad:

They want us to enroll in the school and take Spanish while pursing a degree, or sock us with prerequisites (like English) before we can take any classes. In addition, they require you to take the ASSET/COMPASS test for pursing a degree, taking 10 or more credits, or taking any math/English courses.
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That's just ridiculous. I'm sorry to hear that.
 
Spanish
Mandarin
Yiddish
 
I live in Phoenix... what do you think?

Seriously though, I think we do a decent job of handling the non-English speaking population. The community colleges here have a "Spanish for First Responders" class or something like that. The FD also has an immersion program, and they offer a pay raise for fluent personnel. PD has translators that they sometimes send out to calls.

I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, and while I don't consider myself fluent, I can usually communicate basically. I hope to get in the FD's Spanish immersion program if I get hired.
 
Here is one that hasn't been mentioned..... Sign Language.


Not hard to learn and pays off big when you need it.
 
Pittsburgh Proud said:
Here is one that hasn't been mentioned..... Sign Language.


Not hard to learn and pays off big when you need it.
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excellent idea. i was thinking of taking an extra class this summer and i think maybe i'll see about doing that :D

in terms of languages we have a bit of everything around here.. english, spanish, german, french, there's also quite a few asian languages and people from india. have run into some african languages as well but it's more rare.
 
Katie said:
excellent idea. i was thinking of taking an extra class this summer and i think maybe i'll see about doing that :D

in terms of languages we have a bit of everything around here.. english, spanish, german, french, there's also quite a few asian languages and people from india. have run into some african languages as well but it's more rare.
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In less than an hour I can teach someone to finger spell, not quite sign language but you can get by real well on finger spelling the down side of finger spelling is it would take you a little longer to communicate than signing would but still gets the job done.
 
Hey Lucid, don't forget Ahmaric, loads of that one in Denver metro as well.

I can get by with Spanish and French. My Arabic used to be much better than either, but between the fact that the native speakers are few here and I no longer study, I have fallen way behind. I think most everyone should be at least bilingual, if not a full on polyglot, but that's just my own personal interests coming out.

Egg
 
I speak english, french and am able to communicate in ASL, I can also curse fluently in Italian and Spanish
 
When I worked for a private service, we had a telephone translation service we could call. We'd call, and then they'd translate to/from whatever language we needed. The service was created for emergency services, but I don't have the name of the company. I never used it, but thought it was pretty cool.
 
Pittsburgh Proud said:
Here is one that hasn't been mentioned..... Sign Language.


Not hard to learn and pays off big when you need it.
Click to expand...

I would like to be fluent in Sign Language, I'm hoping to start taking classes next year some time. I have friends who know some and are trying to teach me a bit!
 
I speak Several Dialects of English, quite a-bit of French, but note enough Spanish which i really need.
 
I speak a pretty decent amount of Spanish. We do get Spanish-only patients here and there. I'm usually surprised to find that I'm often the only responder who speaks any Spanish, but it tends to come in handy at least a little bit.
 
It is almost all English here. There are a couple of areas of the province where French is widely spoken. However it is not a true French, more of a *******ized French they call Acadien. Probably more like Louisana French. There is a very small population that still can speak Gaelic. We also have a number of Native reservations where they speak Mi'kmaq. Most of all these people also speak english so it is seldom a problem. There are of course small groups of immigrents who speak what ever their native language was, Asian & European are the main originating sources.

Myself, I just speak English. Although I'm pushing my kids to stay with French in school. After all French is our second official language and can be usefull to have when government jobs come up.
 
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