This past 2 weeks, the patients i have opened up cases for in HH speak not a work of English. They have social security numbers, Medicare benefits, and Medicaid benefits. Live in the U.S. But do not speak a word of English. Getting a family member who does or a translator at a certain time, or even to make a simple phone call and to get someone to answer the door is an utmost challenge.
I know this topic is controversial, but why am I struggling to hard to understand some Spanish so I can do my job in America?
Most are quite lovely patients. Some are just shocked that I don't speak Spanish!
My rant of the day. And these days, there are a lot of rants for me in this field, I admit it.
I remember taking a compulsory cultural sensitivity class my first year at uni (NZ) which ended up being a bashing fest for any non white student to blame the white students for every single bad thing that has ever happen to them race wise. Oh and the assumption that white people have no culture. This seems to come up time and time again. Also I can't stand when people aren't sensitive to MY culture either. I'm not singly responsible for slavery. My country did not have slaves. My ancestors did not have slaves. Yet some how I seem to get accused on being racist before I even get to open my mouth (and I may very well be but let me prove that to you first)
Anyways if we all have to start learning other language I demand that someone learn how to make a decent slice of pavlova.
I remember taking a compulsory cultural sensitivity class my first year at uni (NZ) which ended up being a bashing fest for any non white student to blame the white students for every single bad thing that has ever happen to them race wise. Oh and the assumption that white people have no culture. This seems to come up time and time again. Also I can't stand when people aren't sensitive to MY culture either. I'm not singly responsible for slavery. My country did not have slaves. My ancestors did not have slaves. Yet some how I seem to get accused on being racist before I even get to open my mouth (and I may very well be but let me prove that to you first)Anyways if we all have to start learning other language I demand that someone learn how to make a decent slice of pavlova.
This always bugged me, too. Yes, as a NATION, we all have to remember the crimes our government committed. Of course. But do I, as an INDIVDUAL, feel guilt? Not so much. Heck, MY ancestors fought and died with the Union army to END slavery. Furthermore, as a Jew, am I hostile toward Germans due to their (much more recent in a historical sense) crimes against my people? No. Because I know German people today have nothing to do with something that happened so long ago.
This always bugged me, too. Yes, as a NATION, we all have to remember the crimes our government committed. Of course. But do I, as an INDIVDUAL, feel guilt? Not so much. Heck, MY ancestors fought and died with the Union army to END slavery. Furthermore, as a Jew, am I hostile toward Germans due to their (much more recent in a historical sense) crimes against my people? No. Because I know German people today have nothing to do with something that happened so long ago.
It's especially upsetting to me as I'm a 7th generation NZer and 1st generation American so I literally had nothing to do with it.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
do you really feel this way? you feel that american culture is the main one in the world? or do you mean in the u.s. specifically?
i interpreted it as being that american culture is the main culture in the united states. but i'm sure that's wishful thinking . . . we americans are so eager to be pc and "respect other cultures" that we're bending over backwards to throw our own away.
I remember taking a compulsory cultural sensitivity class my first year at uni (NZ) which ended up being a bashing fest for any non white student to blame the white students for every single bad thing that has ever happen to them race wise. Oh and the assumption that white people have no culture. This seems to come up time and time again. Also I can't stand when people aren't sensitive to MY culture either. I'm not singly responsible for slavery. My country did not have slaves. My ancestors did not have slaves. Yet some how I seem to get accused on being racist before I even get to open my mouth (and I may very well be but let me prove that to you first)
Anyways if we all have to start learning other language I demand that someone learn how to make a decent slice of pavlova.
You know, if you look at research, something like 2% of the population had slaves. And that is of the US population. Im Canadian, where slaves went to escape. So I have even less to do with all of it, but I still get lumped in as a white person. Do people also think of the fact that of that 2% with slaves, some of those were actually former slaves who had bought their freedom? And who sold these people into slavery in the first place? Their countrymen did, in exchange for weapons to fight in their tribal wars.
What about the fact that even when they were given freedom, many of them decided to not only stay in America instead of returning to Africa, but they chose to stay with their former 'owners'!
Anyways...I digress...it just offends me to much to be paying and getting blamed for something I/my ancestors/probably anyone my ancestor knew(!) had anything to do with.
Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
There are also medical Spanish dictionaries that contain the correct words and phrases to describe what you want to get across. They can be invaluable. The one I carry is paperback and small enough to fit in my pocket. I took 15 semester hours of Spanish in college, but then I went for about 15 years without using it. My vocabulary needs work at this point.
A story to lighten the mood a bit: Several years ago I worked in a rehabilitation hospital. One of my patients was an elderly Chinese man who spoke no English. I needed to put in a line for IV fluids, but I didn't want to just go charging toward this man with a needle and grabbing his arm without him knowing what was going on. I decided to wait until his son arrived, because his son was fluent in both English and Chinese. The son arrived, and explained to his father what was about to happen. We expressed our gratitude, and explained that none of us spoke Chinese. The son said "It wouldn't matter if you did. He isn't making sense anyway."
What exactly is this "American culture" that I've heard so much about? Is the culture of Boston closer to Toronto or Paris than it is of a small town in Alabama? During the 2008 presidential campaign, I learned from speeches by one of the candidates and his running mate from Alaska that most Americans are not "real" Americans, and that "real" Americans can be found in the small towns and rural areas of the South.
The culture shifts depending upon who's emigrating here. When the U.S. government decided that, unlike all other countries, Cubans could get permanent residency by simply setting foot on American soil (the footing of a bridge would serve the purpose), and thus South Florida filled with Cubans, who were then followed by immigrants from other Latin American countries, who could gain the advantages of living in the U.S. without the usual culture shock.
So now Miami-Dade County is by far majority Hispanic, and the majority of that majority have Spanish as their mother tongue. Many are not fluent in English. That is the reality. So what do you do when someone who speaks little English comes into your hospital? Make believe that they do speak English? Set your hair on fire and whine about losing your culture?
What exactly are you defending? Is your sense of self that fragile?
I think the point is more that people should learn to speak the language of the country they immigrate to, not the other way around. When you make it this easy for people NOT to have to learn, they don't. People will rarely put forth more effort than they have to to get by.
Do you think if I moved to a Hispanic country, and lived there for years that people would bust their butts trying to speak English or French for me? Doubt it. Or if I moved to a small town in Japan. Should the local nurses/healthcare workers/small shop owners then learn one of MY languages because I deserve to have someone speak to me in MY native tongue? Of course not.
It is the least amount of respect in my opinion to learn the language when you move somewhere. If you don't know it BEFORE you move, then you should certainly know it after years of living there...
What is the language of this country? It's "defined" by the population that lives here, and it's not uniform. There is no law that defines it, other than that certain for-the-public government forms will be available in the languages that predominate in a given area.
If you moved to a Spanish-speaking country, and that country did not have an official language, and there were a lot of primarily English-speakers living in that country, and they were interested in doing business with you, I presume they would communicate with you in English. If there was a large English-speaking population, but no one at the local hospital spoke English, and no translators were available, you would be justified in being angry.
Guess what? There were people living in what is now the United States before it was the United States. Out of respect to those who lived here first, which Native American dialects do you speak?
Older immigrants may never get a good handle on the language, but for economic reasons, the next generation will speak English like a native. If there is a large mass of people who speak a particular language concentrated in an area, the process will take a little longer. Do you propose breaking up families and sending Hispanics from South Florida and Southern California around the nation, so the melting pot melts more quickly?
If you have an issue with the Mexicans, be aware that, where they are now concentrated along the southern tier of the United States WAS their territory before the United States thought it would be better if those areas were part of the United States.
It's easy to complain that everyone is not becoming just like us rapidly enough. It's not that simple though, is it?
It must be so scary to be in a large, noisy environment where you have no clue what is being said, but people are coming at you with needles and pills and gestures and shouting single words in the hope that you understand... I'm just so glad that it's not me stuck in a hospital somewhere I don't speak the language. I am more than happy to get someone to come and explain to them what is going on so they can relax a little bit.
I can see both sides of this debate. At this point, we do not have an official language. English is our unofficial language, and it would be nice if everyone who moved here would attempt it, but it's not required. I have been debating learning Spanish in order to help me with being a nurse. I would LOVE to move to Florida when my son heads off to college. I will then NEED to speak Spanish. It won't be an option. Why? Because the majority of people speak it.
.thumb.gif.a0171653eaae518ecf728198d692fc48.gif){kind=avatar}
tothepointeLVN, LVN
2,246 Posts
I remember taking a compulsory cultural sensitivity class my first year at uni (NZ) which ended up being a bashing fest for any non white student to blame the white students for every single bad thing that has ever happen to them race wise. Oh and the assumption that white people have no culture. This seems to come up time and time again. Also I can't stand when people aren't sensitive to MY culture either. I'm not singly responsible for slavery. My country did not have slaves. My ancestors did not have slaves. Yet some how I seem to get accused on being racist before I even get to open my mouth (and I may very well be but let me prove that to you first)
Anyways if we all have to start learning other language I demand that someone learn how to make a decent slice of pavlova.