emt not english teacher.

[tamaith]

I m wondering if anyone has had language problems with their partner. what i mean is you speak one lang and your partner speaks another. sounds crazy i know, but where i am it happens. I am in an area saturated with bls private companies ( new companies popping up left and right) at least 50. 90% of the companies are owned by ppl from one country( i rather not say which one) needless to say a very good portion of the first responders and emt's ( basic) are from that country and they really don't understand or speak english. However the majority of the pt's do speak only english.

Sometimes you get partnered up ( no set crews) with someone who barley speaks/understands english. you tell the boss that the language barrier is to much, what happens when i need my partner to do or get something and he/she has no idea what i m saying. so now you're putting your cert on the line cuase you can't do your job properly. the boss replies you have to teach him/her english. you say no that is not my job. now you can leave the company and try another company but like what was said earlier its the same with the vast majority of the companies in the area. you wonder how did they get certified when they can't speak or understand english

Im just wondering basically if anyone has had a situation where there is a language barrier between the his/her partners? what did you do? how did you handle the situation or what would you do?

[FireMedic65]

You need to be able to communicate clearly at all times with your partner. Otherwise you will bump into each other in doing things on scene. Not to mention it's super annoying, and sorry to say... people who barely speak English use it as an excuse to get away with a lot of things and not doing things.

Personally... I wouldn't want to work with someone who I could not communicate with. I don't think it is a good idea at all or very safe for that matter.

[Dustdevil]

I'd be okay with it if she were smokin' hott. Otherwise, forget it.

[FireMedic65]

I'd be okay with it if she were smokin' hott. Otherwise, forget it.

Well yea, that's a given!

[cosgrojo]

I m wondering if anyone has had language problems with their partner. what i mean is you speak one lang and your partner speaks another. sounds crazy i know, but where i am it happens. I am in an area saturated with bls private companies ( new companies popping up left and right) at least 50. 90% of the companies are owned by ppl from one country( i rather not say which one) needless to say a very good portion of the first responders and emt's ( basic) are from that country and they really don't understand or speak english. However the majority of the pt's do speak only english.

Sometimes you get partnered up ( no set crews) with someone who barley speaks/understands english. you tell the boss that the language barrier is to much, what happens when i need my partner to do or get something and he/she has no idea what i m saying. so now you're putting your cert on the line cuase you can't do your job properly. the boss replies you have to teach him/her english. you say no that is not my job. now you can leave the company and try another company but like what was said earlier its the same with the vast majority of the companies in the area. you wonder how did they get certified when they can't speak or understand english

Im just wondering basically if anyone has had a situation where there is a language barrier between the his/her partners? what did you do? how did you handle the situation or what would you do?

Wait a minute... your not an English Teacher? Couldn't tell.

[VentMedic]

I have lived and worked most of my life/career in foreign countries, Miami and California, and there are times when English is the foreign language. The biggest problem I had, even with my own abilities with the Spanish language, was communiticating mechanical failure with the truck to the all Spanish speaking mechanics when I couldn't get the translation to come out correctly. Too many dialects of the Spanish language to sort out. Eventually I would just say "No va" and let them figure it out.

The EMT-B exam is not that difficult to pass since it seems the U.S. schools already specialize in "teaching the exam" rather than providing the education. The hands on is mostly "see it" and "do it".

It also wasn't that big of an issue when I had a non-English speaking driver or EMT partner since their job consisted primarily of skills. I actually found my partners from other countries were quick to catch on and had good patient care qualities even without speaking the same language as the patient or their partner.

In the hospitals, it is sometimes difficult as we have many professionals speaking different languages. Fortunately, if you can not understand the orders a doctor is giving due to their strong accent, they can just use the computer to give us a printed version. I do find it annoying when bilingual people speak in the language other than the patient while in their room.

After reading what I just typed, I am probably not the best to comment because I don't know what language I should be referring to. For some reason I think English is not the language of the countries I live/work in now that I think about it.

[Dustdevil]

Send them back to Africa!

[tamaith]

thank you for the comments. i agree communication between the partners is key. unfortunately , the problem is not mechanical its in the pt care. the tech will ask his/her partner for help/get or do something or slow down. and they have no idea what you are saying. they just look at you and shake their head yes or say no. sorry dust no females and no africans here. cos , yeah imagine that, me not an english teacher ha.

[flight-lp]

Good bless Texas! The State functional job decription requires ability to communicate verbally and in writing, along with reading interpretation of the English language.

Never had a problem with it before, even in the Middle East, I had an interpreter.

[tamaith]

vent, you're right about the schools. the instructors in my basic school told us we are not here to teach you how to be an emt-b . we are here to teach you how to pass the state exam. i work with a guy who said when he first became an emt in the late 70s everything was hands on. he left the emt field a few yrs later to do other work making more money. he retired, and decided to be an emt again. he said now nothing is hands on, everything is just classroom/textbook.

flight are you serious? its funny you said texas because me and one of my friends were thinking of moving down there. both nremt b, happy to take a crossover test if needed. we saw an ad on career builder where they are looking for emt s to deal with national or state disasters. obviously we know that we would have to go through a ton of training but i think it would be worth it. i believe experience is priceless