Dear Editor,

I began to be aware of it through an anecdote shared with me by a friend quite a while back. This elderly lady from a deep-rural community went to see her doctor, who was not Jamaican. He politely told her to sit down then asked: “What can I do for you, my dear lady?”

She put her hand to a section of her right side and back and, groaning a bit, muttered, “Dacta, yasuh a hat mi, Sar.”

The doctor assured her, “Well, we’ll examine your yasuh and see what we can prescribe for it. And if over time that does not help your yasuh, then we might have to cut out your yasuh.”

While serving as associate pastor in Metropolitan Baptist Church in Florida, Senior Pastor Dr Gerry Gallimore, a deacon, and I went on pastoral visitation to a member in Jackson Memorial Hospital. The brother was Jamaican and, as we were in dialogue with him in Jamaican, a white nurse came by, looked on a bit puzzled, and asked if we could understand her patient when he speaks because she had difficulties.

So I muttered softly while she was walking away, “Suh oonu cudda kill ‘im eenya if oonu nuh know wah im a seh.”

That cracked up our team and the brother. He readily told us that there were Jamaican nurses from our church on staff who regularly checked up on him.

Right now, my insurance company’s assigned primary care physician’s native tongue is Spanish, but he is passable in English. At times I have difficulty understanding some of what he is saying during our virtual sessions. And, since my high school Spanish is very rusty, I can’t even try to help myself by resorting to his native tongue.

It is a problem that I don’t think is recognised as such within the medical fraternity. Apart from the issue of foreign accents affecting the pronunciation of English words, native English language speakers may use idiomatic expressions regarding illness or whatever pertinent to understanding their ailment about which a doctor or nurse may be clueless. Worries!

The issue is wider than the health services. An Uber driver came to collect me at a library recently and apparently spoke only Spanish. I was standing in the parking lot near the entrance of the library and a vehicle pulls up to me and I heard rapid-fire Spanish. I had no clue what was being said until I heard my name and responded, “Si,” then the driver beckoned with his hand for me to go into the back of the vehicle. When he neared my home he said something in Spanish which I did not understand, but as he was about to pass my driveway I shouted and pointed: “Aqui!”

He muttered something in Spanish again, reversed a bit, and let me out. I told him thanks in Spanish and bid him “Go with God” in Spanish.

I guess I need to refresh my Spanish, especially since I am residing in Florida, but as well the language challenge with non-native English language speakers needs attention.

Rev Clinton Chisholm

clintchis@yahoo.com