Language Barriers for Non-Speaking Citizens

All languages are important and realizing it will make you become a stronger, more diverse human being. We need take make an effort not only for ourselves but for other citizens living in the United States who don’t speak English; we need to make them feel welcomed into our country. Marjorie Agosín described that,”here in the United States, where I have lived since I was a young girl, the solitude of exile makes me feel that so little is mine, that not even the sky has the same constellations, the trees and the fauna the same names or sounds, or the rubbish the same smell. These are the dilemmas of one who writes in Spanish and lives in translation”(Agosin 599). Agosín has lived in the United States for quite some time now, yet still feels like she is living a life through “translation”. She should not feel this way, Agosin should feel apart of our country and feel as if she is a citizen. It is important for us to take a stand now to make language become apart of the curriculum within our school systems starting in Kindergarten, so that our children have a more diverse life filled with opportunities. One thing we know about the future for sure is that we will still have our knowledge about language, but it is how we use that knowledge that will depict how we will succeed in life and as a

In 2004 my grandmother and I moved from Haiti to United States without a speck of English in our language. After few years living in the states, my grandma started to get ill and she had to seek monthly medical assistance. At the time, my mother was working multiple jobs and I was a full time undergrad student that lived on college campus. Our busy schedule posed a challenge for us to bring grandma to her medical appointments. Most times it was hard for us to find someone to go with her and assist her with language translation. When it was time for her to go by herself, the health providers would have trouble finding a professional translator on the spot to assist my grandma. This became a repetitive problem and my grandma’s case was not getting any better. If she had the ability to communicate with her provider using her own language, she would have been able to be more expressive about her symptoms and the doctors would have assisted her to her needs. Just like my grandma, many people that speaks little to no English, are having trouble interpreting their medical diagnosis and communicating with their healthcare providers.

Can you imagine the how the healthcare industry would be without language, what seems to be impossible to imagine is the everyday reality of some patients because of their native language. Language is a major contribution to the health disparities that some populations face, because it makes it difficult for some patients to communicate their problems as well as understand the care they provided. Language contributes to the health disparities that some populations face because it creates a barrier between the patient and the care provider, making it difficult for a patient to receive proper care. Language barriers create a communication gap between a patient and a provider, forcing the patient to feel misunderstood and unable to trust his/her provider to properly care for them. I come from a family that speaks more than one language, so I have seen the impact language barriers can have on someone who doesn’t speak fluent English.

Language is one social and cultural barriers that may have made it difficult for the doctors to communicate with Jessica’s family. It creates the trust that exists between a patient and a doctor and their guardians. When using a translator, meanings may change and the desired communication result may not be achieved. The trust that should exist between the doctor and the patient and the guardians

Using data instead of rash judgments will not only bring a solution, it will bring the solution much sooner than the pace we are on now. The first logical fallacy is “Immigrants do not want to and do not need to learn English” (Institute for the Study of Labor) Most immigrants to the US do want to learn English, today as in the past. There are strong economic incentives for becoming fluent in English. Employment opportunity and earnings are greater for those who are proficient in English and this effect is greater for those with higher levels of other skills, including schooling.

Effective communication with patients is critical to the safety and quality care. From the last two decades ,number of researches has been conducted on the impact of language barrier on health and healthcare. It is observed that language barriers are the main cause of medical errors, complication and adverse event. But due to data limitations ,limited researches on impacts of language barrier has been conducted in Canadian setting. However, the researches conducted on other countries on the impact of language barrier on quality of care is applicable in the Canadian context. Some researches shows that there are several barrier which affect quality of care and patient safety. Now, researches has begun to know the complexity of language, culture, race, health literacy that may affect patient care. Current approaches are moved towards the knowledge of risk of language barrier rather than implementation of effective, evidence informed strategies.

Consequently, the need for qualified interpreters in the clinical settings is of great essence in the reduction of

Though America does not have an official language, English is the most spoken language. First, English is the language of the forefathers; those who are the foundation and reason our country is still in existence today. Whenever the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution were written, the Englishmen wrote them in English. Nonetheless, English has been spoken for many, many centuries. To add to that, the English language is what ties the country back to it’s roots. Secondly, knowing the English language does not just stop at ordering food at a restaurant, it is the language that countries use to trade with one another. Immigrants who know English do not have as much trouble ordering food or trying to sell items to other people. English is the native language of the United States; therefore, learning the language should be a requirement.

I see many challenges in regards to providing care to patients that do not speak English especially in the healthcare realm. From the very beginning we need to know what is wrong, what happened, how long it has been going for, what medical history they have, allergies, and medication taken. How can we treat what we do not know is wrong? In order to probably do some root cause analysis you need to drill down and see what is going on, which cannot be done if you cannot communicate. Also, you do not know what I making things better. These non-English speaking individuals will have unmet needs because of my inability to

Effective communication is important in providing safe health care. Miscommunication can lead to many errors, which can inadvertently affect compliance, accurate diagnosis, and health promotion. There are a variety of translation services offered in the United States; however,

There are emotional and legal concerns surrounding whether immigrants should learn to speak English. Domenico Maceri (2009), an award-winning author and foreign language instructor at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria California, states “I never met an immigrant in the United States who needed laws to be reminded that English is necessary to succeed” (par. 9).

Several literatures argue that a language barrier is a major problem when non-English speaking immigrants access health services in the UK. It is a common problem among Eastern Europeans and other immigrants, however the majority of the literature considers language barrier in relation to immigrants as a homogenous group. The following paragraphs will discuss the issue of language barrier for immigrants and then the specific applications of the issue for Eastern Europeans and consider recommendations to improve services for non-English speakers.

In a research article by Johnson (2010), elderly individuals may not be able to maintain health and self-care for multiple reasons, such as cognitive limitations, mobility issues, living conditions, and other comorbidities. Language barriers may also affect the understanding of discharge instructions. This has significance when looking at Australians in 2006, almost three million, aged 15-74 years of age, spoke English as a second language. Karliner and colleagues conducted a study to focus on language barriers and the understanding of discharge instructions among patients with limited English proficiency from 2 large urban hospitals. The sample consisted of 308 random Spanish, Chinese, and English-speaking patients recruited from medical surgical floors who were used in the study. Although the patients were provided with interpreters in their appropriate languages, the results of the study discovered low understanding for follow-up appointments (56%) and medication outcomes such as the purpose of medication (41%).

Communication is often a frequent issue that arises in hospitals. Obvious issues include patients or faculty speaking a different language, making communication difficult; especially since translators are not always available. Following will be some examples of common but not so obvious communication problems that you might encounter in a hospital setting. (Galanti 2002)

In order to be successful in America you need to know a bit of English. Immigrants should not be mandated to learn English, but learning English would help them to succeed. Most Americans want the immigrants to learn English, but are not willing to help them. If Americans help the immigrants, not only will they be able to succeed, but their children will also succeed. People are always complaining when immigrants speak their native tongues. Immigrant children get assimilated through the school system, but their parents do not have the same opportunity to assimilate. This leaves the children to be translator for their parents. In order to help immigrants to succeed, the United States needs to not only assimilate the children, but also help the adults who have a harder time learning a new language. Through helping the immigrants learn English, Americans are ensuring that not only will the immigrants prosper, but the United States as well because she will have workers who are better skilled and are able to understand each other. According to the 2000 Census, fluent English-speaking immigrants earn nearly double that of non-English speaking workers and have substantially lower unemployment rates. (GCIR) This census shows that if the immigrants learn English then they can proper. If Americans help the immigrants learn English