“speak spanish?”

“no, i’m sorry. i know some words, but not enough.”

“WHY? you LEARN!” another nurse who speak spanish!”

just like that, and i was dismissed with his had motions. i would have been totally stupid not to understand a dismissing action like that.

there would have been nothing wrong with this exchange, except for the fact that the patient expressed it in a very rude way. it is not possible to put his tone in writing, but you can let your imagination work and think of rudeness at its highest form, and that would have been how he said it.

before all the spanish speaking people hate me for speaking my mind about this, let me say upfront that i totally understand the frustrations of not being able to communicate and to understand somebody. especially if that somebody is a person who has needles and things being poked at you every hour or so. it is VERY frustrating. to say it can get on your nerves is definitely an understatement.

i usually have a lot of sympathy towards patients who cannot speak english because it is a big source of anxiety. to be in a hospital bed and not understand anything, is one thing, being unable to express what you need is another thing.

this rant is only about those specific people (patients and their families) who are very rude in expressing their frustrations. i know that there is a big number of spanish speaking people in america, but is it wrong for me to feel offended when i am told, openly or by actions, that i should be ashamed for not knowing how to speak spanish? do you really think i will come here not knowing how to speak spanish if i know for a fact that i am SUPPOSED to? i took a series of english exams before i finally get my visa to work here. THAT, to me is totally understandable. obviously, if the US embassy requires me to pass a series of spanish exams, i won’t be here.

i do not know how it is in other places, but in my OWN experience, it is mostly the spanish speaking patients and thier families who act like they are being descriminated if they are assigned a nurse who does not speak spanish. i say this based on the fact that our hospital gets patients from all over the world. i have never heard a romanian or a vietnamese, or a french, or a  patient get upset just because i do not understand a single thing they say.

usually, it is a difficult situation, but we get through. the interpreters are only available from 8 am to 11 pm. at night, we can get hold of the interpreters only through phone, but imagine the technical difficulties. still we get by.

i am not generalizing all spanish speaking people about this, because a lot of them come in prepared. they come with their families who translate for them. i am just saying that in my experience, there is a handful of “spanish speaking only” patients who get upset, (yes, upset, not frustrated) and they always make sure we know.

as i said, their frustration i can understand. but UPSET? why? i want to understand the reason behind the hostility. i really do. i will appreciate any inputs about this, because even if i am not happy with the implications, i do want situations like these to have better outcomes.

you see, if i decided to work in mexico, or spain, or any spanish speaking country, and people get upset that i do not speak their language, i will totally understand where their anger is coming from. but working here, where english is supposed to be the primary language, do you really think i am being selfish if i just know english?

do you really think i am such an inconsiderate, thoughtless, heartless nurse, just because i don’t know how to speak spanish?

if you ask me, that assumption is unfair, but that’s just my side of the story. it could be because i do not really know both sides.

what is YOUR side of the story?