Translator Tips for Medical Missions
(or, what not to learn the hard way...)
-- assembled by Ted Spurling, Jr. -- and I'd welcome some more.
1. First, be respectful of all patients. This, along with a smile, goes a long way.
2. Focus on one patient at a time. For example, tell an excited mother...
a. "We need to talk about this child first, and then the other three."
b. "Your aunt in Loja needs to see the doctor herself."
3. Focus on one problem at a time.
a. "Tell us about the child's knee. We can talk about her ear later."
b. "We need to talk about the child's knee, and then your shoulder."
4. Let the doctor be the doctor, not you or the patient. Examples:
a. "Dolor de riñones" (kidney pain) might really be lower back pain.
b. "Gastritis" (gastritis) might be a different stomach ailment.
c. Let the doctor decide if a child is bajo de peso (underweight), not the
distraught mother.
5. If you don't understand rapid Spanish, ask the patient to speak s-l-o-w-l-y. Try to find
a more proficient speaker to help out occasionally (even an Ecuadorian who
speaks no English!) to condense the fast dialect or slang into simple Spanish (or
English).
6. When there is confusion, ask the question again, perhaps in another way.
7. Don't be afraid to use the pronouns: yo, tú, él, ella, nosotros, ellos, etc., no matter
what your teacher said. If you're not certain of the verb endings, the pronouns
will clarify the meaning.
8. Try not to ask leading questions. These can influence the response.
Don't ask: "Does it hurt here?"
Ask: "Where does it hurt?" Let the patient tell you. *
* Remember that some patients are interested in obtaining medications for future
ailments, or to give to relatives - and may tell you what they think you want to
hear in order to get them. Don't lead them into temptation.
9. If the doctor directs you to ask a leading question, then by all means do so. Quite
often a doctor will give a patient choices such as, "Does it hurt all the time, or
only at night?" (¿Le duele todo el tiempo, o solamente de noche?)
10. Remember that the doctor is one step ahead of you, even though he or she doesn't
speak Spanish. The doctor knows the human body, and probably anticipates a
certain answer from the patient before you ask the question. The doctor is also
reading facial expressions and body language, and may have the answer before
you translate it.
11. Occasionally, a patient's answers don't match the questions. You might feel like
you are in a "Who's On First?" routine. Does the patient seem evasive? Tell the
doctor if you suspect something wrong. The patient may be hiding something. Is
there alcoholism? physical or sexual abuse? fear of sexually transmitted disease
(STD)? desire for medications? pregnancy? The doctor should know these
things.
12. Keep in mind that the cause of the patient's problem may be waiting outside in the
hallway, or sitting beside her. Be cautious and discreet. The patient's reputation
or physical safety may be at stake.
13. Set realistic, practical goals for yourself and for the mission. Realize that we are
not going to heal all of the sick, feed all of the poor, or revolutionize Ecuador's
medical system in a two-week mission. We will turn away long lines of people
toward the end of our time there. This can be heartbreaking, but by setting
practical goals we can avoid feelings of guilt, failure or frustration. Don't be
afraid to let your heart be broken, but within certain limits.
14. Also realize that you might benefit someone's life beyond your expectations and
long after you leave, without ever knowing it. Your presence and your friendship
mean a lot to the people you'll meet, perhaps more than the medical treatment
you offer. Letting people know that you care for them, or that God loves them,
can be worth more than medicine.
Vocabulario ~ and other stuff that the book doesn't tell you...
General Pains and Problems
dolor - (noun) - pain -
¿Donde está el dolor? (Where is the pain?)
doler - (verb) - to hurt -
¿Donde le duele? (Where does it hurt you?)
Me duelen las amígdalas. (The tonsils hurt me.)
molestar - to bother, to hurt
Note: "Molestar" does not usually mean to molest sexually, as in English, but simply to bother. (See violar, below.)
¿Donde le molesta? (Where does it bother you?)
Me molestan las rodillas. (The knees bother me.)
¡No me molestes! (Don't bother me!)
violar - to rape, to violate, to molest sexually
estar violada (to be raped, molested sexually) - estar violado if the victim is male
golpear - to strike, to hit, to beat
el golpe (noun) - the hit, the stricken area
dañar - to damage, to bruise
el daño - the damage, the bruise
quebrar - to break
quebrado - broken
Está quebrado el dedo. (The finger is broken.)
romper - to break
rompido - broken
roto - broken (irregular, same as rompido)
hinchar - to swell
Me hinchan las piernas. (My legs swell up.)
hinchazón (noun) - swelling
picar - to itch, to pick, to prick
Me pican los dedos. (My fingers itch or prick.)
picazón - pricking, itching
comezón - (noun) itching
- used as verb: Me comen los ojos. (The eyes itch.)
- Warning: sounds like the verb "to eat", but don't worry about cannibalism.
quemar - to burn - can be with real fire, or simply feel like it
¡Me queman las plantas! (The soles of the feet burn me!)
Le quemó el fuego. (The fire burned him.)
quemadura (noun) - the burn, as from a fire or scald
arder - to cause burning feeling (not with fire)
Me arde la barriga. (The stomach area burns me.)
ardencia, ardor (noun) - burning feeling
ardiente (adj.) burning, ardent
riñón - kidney - but many people refer to the lower back as los riñones
Me duelen los riñones. - a very common complaint; usually sore back muscles
Digestive Terms
asientos - diarrhea - (slang - literally, "seats")
diarrea - diarrhea
barriga - stomach/abdominal area
caca - feces, stool - common term, especially among the poor - not considered vulgar
hacer caca - to defecate
defecar - to defecate
heces - feces, stool (more formal term)
excremento - Careful of this one! In Ecuador, is used for animal waste, as in "dung", or
"droppings," and may offend a patient.
mierda - the "S" word - considered vulgar - Avoid this.
deposición, evacuación - bowel movement
estreñimiento - (eh-strain-yee-myen-toe) - constipation (think of "strain")
estreñido - (eh-strain-yee-doe) - constipated
Note: "Constipado" does not mean "constipated", but is a noun for the common
cold.
resfriado - the common cold - (more common than constipado)
bichos - intestinal parasites, bugs, worms (general term)
lombriz, lombrices - intestinal parasites, worms
parásitos - parasites
piojos - head lice - Be careful about suggesting to a mother that her child has lice.
(¿Piojos? ¡No! ¡No!) Okay to suggest stomach bichos. They all have those.
Reproductive Terms
relaciones sexuales - sexual relations
el embarazo - pregnancy
estar embarazada - to be pregnant - (originally "to be embarassed")
dar a luz - to give birth (literally, "to give to light")
dar pecho - to nurse (literally, to give breast, or chest)
leche de pecho; leche maternal - breast milk
amamantar - to nurse, to breastfeed
los senos - the breasts
reglas - menstrual periods
cambio de vida - change of life, menopause
menopausia - menopause
el aborto - can mean abortion or miscarriage - might have regional meaning - check on it
la pérdida - the miscarriage (literally "the loss")
- (Used also for loss of other things):
pérdida de sangre - loss of blood
pérdida de conocimiento - loss of conciousness
nacer - to be born
¿Cuando nació el bebé? - (When was the baby born?)
recién nacido - newborn
varón - boy baby
desarrollo - development (as in a child or unborn baby, but also a country, etc.)
pene - penis
peine - comb (Important: pronounce all the vowels! - peh-ee-neh - Or get laughed at.)
planificación familiar - birth control, family planning
anticonceptivos - contraceptives
condón - condom
ligadura - tubal ligation, "tying of tubes"
la "Te" - IUD (intra-uterine device) - shaped like the letter "T"
enfermedad venérea - venereal disease
SIDA - AIDS
Phrases, and Quirks, and "-isms" - (oh, my!)
Notice that the "reflexive verb" is used often:
Me duele. - It hurts me.
Me hinchan. - They swell me.
Me sudo de noche. - I sweat myself at night.
¿Le gusta cafe? - Does it please you (do you like) coffee?
Se acabó el medicamento. - It finished itself, the medicine. (The medicine is all
gone.)
Se vende esta casa. - It sells itself, this house (This house for sale).
Aquí se asbestan los frenos. - "Here they asbestos themselves, the brakes."
-translation: "Brakes relined here." Go figure...
The reflexive verb often acts like the passive voice, which your English teacher told you
never to use. Ignore her. This is Spanish.
Se me perdió el medicamento. - "It was lost to me, the medicine", or, "The
medicine got lost." - (Also called "guilt-free Spanish", because it blames
the object.)
-Perdí el medicamento. - "I lost the medicine." - (active, honorable statement.)
¿A qué hora se abre la clínica? - At what time (hour) is the clinic opened?
The Diminutive, (-ito or -ita), is used a lot in Ecuador:
éstecito - this little thing
este partecito - this little part
mas cerquita - a litte closer
mas bajito - a little lower
aquicito - right here
una agüita - a little water
¡Pobrecito! -ita! - Poor little one! (often used on a pouting child, like mine)
A mother may refer to her child's body parts in the diminutive:
la cabecita - the little head
las manitos - the little hands
el bracito - the little arm
la piernita - the little leg
la caquita - the little caca, or poopie
los huesitos - the little bones - not to be confused with...
el osito - the teddy bear - very important word - we give these away...
Blessings, etc.
Que Dios le pague. - May God pay you. (common thank-you from a patient)
Dios le bendiga. - God bless you.
bendecir - to bless (literally, "to speak well")
Si Dios quiere. - God willing.
¡Ojalá! - Let's hope to God! (from the Arabic Allah, God)
Cristo le ama. - Jesus loves you. (Cristo te ama to a child)
alabar - to praise
Alabaré. - I will praise (also the title of a popular song)
Alabemos al Señor. - Let's praise the Lord.
orar - to pray
Ecuadorianisms
de repente - once in a while - does not mean "suddenly", as in other countries
- not: De repente murió. Suddenly he died.
- but rather: "¿Fuma usted?" (Do you smoke?)
"De repente." (Once in a while.)
bastante - lots of, many, much, mucho - not "enough", as in other countries, but "more
than enough"
"¿Pierde usted mucha sangre durante las reglas?" (Do you lose much blood
during your periods?)
"¡Bastante!" (Lots!)
suficiente - enough - used in Ecuador instead of bastante
The "rr" and the initial "R" are often pronounced "zh" in southern Ecuador .
Examples:
Roberto - Zhoberto
Ronald Reagan - Zhonald Zhegan
barriga - bazhiga
diarrea - diazhea
de repente - dezhepente
"Barriga" (stomach area) sounds a lot like "vejiga" (bladder). Watch it!
Etc.
la mitad - the half (or) the middle
Tome la mitad esta noche, y la otra mitad mañana por la noche.
(Take half tonight and the other half tomorrow night.)
Ecuador es "la mitad del mundo." (Ecuador is the middle of the world.)
media, medio - half
Tome media tableta tres veces al día con comida. (Take half a tablet three times
a day with food.)
al día ? por día ? Both mean "per day". Probably "al día" is more common.
plata - dinero, money - (literally, "silver")
"¿Por qué no compró el medicamento?" (Why didn't you buy the medication?)
"No tengo la plata." (I don't have the money.)
