A visit to the doctor

Back when I (Gina) was a newspaper reporter, I wrote an article about a company that provided free interpreters for Spanish-speaking immigrants visiting doctors or going to the hospital. The head interpreter had explained to me that even people who are becoming fluent in English may have difficulty with the specific medical terminology that they otherwise wouldn't encounter in their daily interactions in a new country.

I could see the importance of this service and was happy to hear someone was providing it for people in our community. Yet, I couldn't personally appreciate the incredible sense of security and comfort having a translator could provide in a medical situation until I faced one here in Germany.

Recently I experienced some inner ear problems, finally realizing I was going to have to make the dreaded doctor's appointment.

It's one thing to go to the grocery and muddle your way through a new language to purchase your food for the week. It's entirely more difficult to try communicating with someone about your health in a different language. While you have been learning the words for milk, fish, chicken, apple and the words for how much money you owe, you are unlikely to have learned the German words for "vertigo", "dizzy", "inner ear", or "does this hurt?"

When I entered the doctor's office, the impasse began immediately, as I know almost no German and the woman processing new patients had a similar unfamiliarity with English. We tried to fill in the blanks with pointing, gestures, facial expressions and blundered attempts to pronounce the few words in the other language that we knew.

Having gotten processed, I found a seat in an examination room. The doctor was much more fluent in English, thank goodness, and made up for my miserable lack of German. However, even here we had many pauses and attempts to find the right word for something. Finally satisfied that she understood my complaints, the doctor said she would have her assistant perform a series of tests on my inner ears.

The assistant was the same person who checked me in. So began a nervewracking battle of communication. It's very important to understand a person who is explaining a health test to you: Did she just say I should press the button when I hear a tone through the headphones, or that I should hold down the button? Should I push it when I think I hear something but I'm not sure, or only when I'm positive? Maybe I am supposed to push it only when I don't hear something?

Misunderstanding the simple nuances of these instructions could completely undermine the test and result in a diagnosis of hearing loss when I don't have one, or show my hearing is fine when maybe I am losing it.

It was at this moment when I first felt true empathy for immigrants in my home country.

I could have asked one of our German-speaking colleagues to go to the appointment with me, but I hadn't wanted to be a bother to anyone. Now I was wishing I'd asked.

Fortunately, everything went fine and I emerged from the tests with the doctor hailing my ears as completely healthy. The experience simply gave me a new appreciation for the numerous obstacles facing strangers and immigrants as they settle into a new country.