Hola! Espanol habla-ers? ;>P

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in NICU.

Anyone speak spanish who would be willing to translate some things for me? I am actually at work right now, and have a mom here on the NICU that speaks nary a word of English. She can say 'six' but that will only get us so far. I would really love to be able to tell her a couple of things, like the baby is improving, or the baby is doing very well, the baby is gaining weight, etc. I would also like to be able to ask her if she wants to hold the baby, etc. ANYONE? Por favor? I know about eight words and I've used them up! (Screaming "Uno mas!" seemed to frighten her so I had to stop....someone...help....) Thanks! I usually carry a phrasebook with me for healthcare people but it's not on me tonight. :

Oh, I wish i had seen this sooner... Ok,

I'm not a nurse but I do speak Spanish...

Your baby is improving... Su bebe esta mejorando (j- sounds like h - roll the "r" a little

Your baby is gaining weight... Su bebe esta aumentando de peso

Would you like to hold your baby... Gustarias detener al bebe?

(for the first word here the accent is on the "i" - should sound like "e") - (if detener doesn;'t work try cargar just make sure you pronounce the first r cause if you miss it you'll be saying poop :) ha ha - then she'll get confused)

Hope this helps... Good luck!

S

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

Kristi--go to Altavista, and use the translator in an emergencia.

You're baby is ok right now. = Su bebe esta bien ahorita.

Quieres abrasar su bebe? = Do you want to hold (actually embrace, cargar is hold, but sounds more like an inanimate object) your baby?

You can do a lot w/ charades--show her the weight card, say mas (more).

The thing she will probably ask you is when the baby is going home. If you can guess that's she's saying, the answer will usually be, yo no se, I don't know.

Llame en la manana = call in the morning. doulbe l=y, 1st n in manana has a ~, so say manyana.

Hopefully, I didn't tell you too much that you already knew!

For "Do you want to hold your baby" I'd say, "?Quieres tomar el bebe?" To say "detener" means to hold as in to stop/arrest.

Buena suerte. :)

Originally posted by prmenrs

Kristi--go to Altavista, and use the translator in an emergencia.

You're baby is ok right now. = Su bebe esta bien ahorita.

Quieres abrasar su bebe? = Do you want to hold (actually embrace, cargar is hold, but sounds more like an inanimate object) your baby?

You can do a lot w/ charades--show her the weight card, say mas (more).

The thing she will probably ask you is when the baby is going home. If you can guess that's she's saying, the answer will usually be, yo no se, I don't know.

Llame en la manana = call in the morning. doulbe l=y, 1st n in manana has a ~, so say manyana.

Hopefully, I didn't tell you too much that you already knew!

It's funny how language differs in areas...where I live if you say "ahorita" it means "in about 15 minutes or so..."

I forgot to say that "tomar" means to "take," not to "hold," but it translates to approx. the same thing.

Whatever yo do, don't make anything up...I did that one time and wound up really, really, really saying the wrong thing!!:imbar

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

I like to say ahorita (around here it means right now) because I don't want mom to think everything is totally ok--if so, why is the baby here?

to keep it simple, you could just say "esta bien".

Originally posted by prmenrs

I like to say ahorita (around here it means right now) because I don't want mom to think everything is totally ok--if so, why is the baby here?

to keep it simple, you could just say "esta bien".

I always thought it meant "right now," or "immediately." Then, I took a job as a prenatal coordinator in a clinic that served mostly Spanish pts.

I went out to the waiting room to call a pt back for her appt. She looked up and said, "?Ahora?" and I said, "Si, ahorita." So I walked back to my office, but no pt. I walked back out to the waiting room, and said the same thing. Back in my office...no pt.

This went on about 3 times, and finally I thought, "Something is not getting communicated here." So the next time I said, "En este momento." The pt and her mother laughed and told me that for PR's, "ahorita" means soon, like about 15 min. Strange, because I learned that "ita," "isimo/isima," etc. mean extra emphasis.

Oh well, live and learn. But don't ever say "groceria" for "grocery store." You're actually saying, "groseria," which means something very, very different...LOL.

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