Need Common Phrases in Spanish

Specialties Emergency

Published

Hello,

I volunteer in the ER while going to school. I like it, but I don't speak Spanish and I've been lucky so far that there have been some bilingual people nearby when spanish-only speaking visitors come to the hospital.

I would like to know if I could get a translation to the following questions (phonetically also if you could):

1. What is the patient's name?

2. What is your name?

3. How are you related to the patient (and could I get some common answers too like father, mother, brother, friend, cousin, uncle, you know)?

Thank you in advance.

Specializes in Peds.

Try this link. It will translate to and from quite a few languages. Also, I bought a book of medical spanish made easy...

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Specializes in L & D nurse!.

Good try but here is the correct spelling and the way it should be said.

Que hacer por ti?

what can i do for you?

Should be "En que le puedo servir?"

via con mio

come with me

Should be "Venga conmigo"

orinar

urine

"Orinar" means to urinate

"Orine" means urine

aqui (a key)

here

(con- TAR- say las ropas, pon-TAR-say las bata)

take off your clothes, put on this robe

Should be "Quitese la ropa" - Take off your clothes

Should be "Pongase esta bata" - Put this robe on

el bano

the bathroom

ayudar

help

(beber)

drink

(comer)

eat

(yay-low)

ice

Should be "Hielo" (remember that "h" is silent in spanish)

mi quero

I want

Should be "yo quiero"

relaja e respiro

relax and breath

Should be "Relajese y respire"

(sangray)

blood

Should be "Sangre"

also always remembre to say por favor- please

I don't know how to write spanish and only speak very little so may wanna check some of these. lol a bunchof these are in the back of a tabers dictionary.

Hope this helps.
Good try but here is the correct spelling and the way it should be said. Hope this helps.

Thank you, all the ones I only put in ( ) I KNEW I was mis-spelling, was just trying to get as close as possible to pronunciation as I could.

I have a question about "Que hacer por ti" a husband of a former pt told me that and even worte it down for me, he was fluent in english but spanish was his first language, so is that slang or something?

Here's a funny story, I had a completely non-english speaking pt and was trying to get her out of her room because a tornado was coming towards the hospital, I could NOT think of a word for "tornado" and finally got flustered enoguh to try using english LMAO.

tornado=tornado

Specializes in L & D nurse!.
Thank you, all the ones I only put in ( ) I KNEW I was mis-spelling, was just trying to get as close as possible to pronunciation as I could.

I have a question about "Que hacer por ti" a husband of a former pt told me that and even worte it down for me, he was fluent in english but spanish was his first language, so is that slang or something?

Here's a funny story, I had a completely non-english speaking pt and was trying to get her out of her room because a tornado was coming towards the hospital, I could NOT think of a word for "tornado" and finally got flustered enoguh to try using english LMAO.

tornado=tornado

Yup... the tornado story is funny! Cute.

"Que hacer por ti" is not correct. I really think he was trying to make it easy for you. It is not proper spanish and no one would say it like that. You could say it like this if you'd like... "Que puedo hacer por ti?" But "en que le puedo servir" is very polite, professional and respectful. Hope this helps.

Specializes in ED tech on a resp. therapist adventure.

I am going to take a bunch of flak over this but here goes, Why are we in America adjusting to people who want to live in our country but refuse to learn the language?? There are plenty of people who have moved to different countries who have not asked that the people of the new country learn their language. Try MOVING to another country (outside of a tourist locale) where english is not the primary language and see if they will speak english for you, much less give you medicaid, food stamps and other aid. Why are we making it easier for other languages to take over English, which is the language of this country????? And yes I know that we are the "melting pot" but at some point we have to stand for something or we will fall for anything.

Just my and alot of other peoples opinion, even if they will not publicly admit it.

Try this link. It will translate to and from quite a few languages. Also, I bought a book of medical spanish made easy...

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Babelfish is definitely convenient, but I would never trust it as the sole source for an unfamiliar word. Sometimes it translates alright, but it can also give you something way goofy, especially if you and the computer are thinking of different contexts for the word.

One good phrase that I think is often overlooked: Todo bien? (This isn't really even a grammatically complete sentence and it would have an upside-down question mark at the beginning, but I don't think our BB supports it.) But anyway, it means, 'Everything okay?' Once your patient is settled in, it's a kind thing to ask every once in a while.

Specializes in ER, critical care.

While I have not moved to any southern country, I have visited. If they speak English they are generally happy to help you out by speaking english or just being patient to correct your spanish.

This spring while visiting Puerto Vallarta with a friend who spoke maybe 2 spanish words (I have about 100 or so words but can't put them together in a sentence), I was trying to figure out how much these taquitos cost at a stand outside the grocery store we had just been in (that was an experience... trying to convert not only pesos to dollars but kilograms to pounds and come up with some idea of the cost of a papaya in a language that I understood... hilarious)

Anyway, back to the taquitos. I was reading the sign listing the price in spanish and trying to make it make sense in my brain. Finally I decided must be about $2 per taquito and made the announcement to my friend. The very kind gentlemen behind me corrected both my spanish and my interpretation... the taquitos were about 5 for a US dollar.

Besides, learning a foreign language isn't about having another language take over the presiding language. It is about expanding one's horizons beyond the backyard. And it is fun!

One more thing to add. It is hard to visit any tourist destination in Mexico and practice spanish. A large number of people speak English. I think it is required in school. We had to travel way off the beaten path to find anyone that required we order food in spanish. That morning I learned that papas are french fries.

I am going to take a bunch of flak over this but here goes, Why are we in America adjusting to people who want to live in our country but refuse to learn the language?? There are plenty of people who have moved to different countries who have not asked that the people of the new country learn their language. Try moving to a southern country and see if they will speak english for you, much less give you medicaid, food stamps and other aid. Why are we making it easier for other languages to take over English, which is the language of this country????? And yes I know that we are the "melting pot" but at some point we have to stand for something or we will fall for anything.

Just my and alot of other peoples opinion, even if they will not publicly admit it.

I understand the opinion and I also believe that people should make reasonable attempts to learn the primary language where they live. You have to realize though, that some of the people in the hospital did not have a lot of notice before having to come to the US for whatever reason. In any case, I don't think that emergency situations in hospitals are really the times to have that debate.

In my setting (NICU), the baby suffers if the parents don't have a full grasp of our teaching. It's not the baby's fault that the parents don't speak English, so that's why I'm willing to help the parents as much as I possibly can.

Specializes in MED/SURG, ONCOLOGY, PEDIATRICS, ER.
I am going to take a bunch of flak over this but here goes, Why are we in America adjusting to people who want to live in our country but refuse to learn the language?? There are plenty of people who have moved to different countries who have not asked that the people of the new country learn their language. Try MOVING to another country (outside of a tourist locale) where english is not the primary language and see if they will speak english for you, much less give you medicaid, food stamps and other aid. Why are we making it easier for other languages to take over English, which is the language of this country????? And yes I know that we are the "melting pot" but at some point we have to stand for something or we will fall for anything.

Just my and alot of other peoples opinion, even if they will not publicly admit it.

:nono: :madface:

Specializes in MED/SURG, ONCOLOGY, PEDIATRICS, ER.
I understand the opinion and I also believe that people should make reasonable attempts to learn the primary language where they live. You have to realize though, that some of the people in the hospital did not have a lot of notice before having to come to the US for whatever reason. In any case, I don't think that emergency situations in hospitals are really the times to have that debate.

In my setting (NICU), the baby suffers if the parents don't have a full grasp of our teaching. It's not the baby's fault that the parents don't speak English, so that's why I'm willing to help the parents as much as I possibly can.

:yeah: exactly my point....:wink2:

Specializes in ED tech on a resp. therapist adventure.

What, not happy that I do not wish to have a language FORCED upon me?? My fore-fathers who came here legally as immigrants did not ask the people that were already here to learn German (or put anything in German for them to read).

Having non-english speakers slows down school classes for my child, slows down the care that we can give to people, causes my taxes to go up for the care of people who do not have insurance, among other things.

I may not sound very understanding nor tolerant however I do care a great deal about people, that is why I am in this profession. I give the same care to those who speak French as those who speak Spanish and to those who speak English.

And as a closing note, as we are the melting pot, exactly how many languages am I going to be asked to learn??? French, Spanish, German, Swahili?????? Where does it all stop????

Mas cervesa por favor.

(More beer please)

Sorry, couldn't resist

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