Sunday 10 November 2024
Islamabad (News International. DW New. November 10, 2024) A Swedish linguist Hedwig Skergaard came to Germany for post-doctoral studies. He had only been in Germany for a few months when he needed to see a doctor. However, what he experienced, even after many years of living and working in Germany, still does not leave his mind.
"My doctor asked me to see a few specialists," she says. Can speak to me in English. However, none of them could do so.
A specialist told me to bring a friend or family member to help, which was not possible: I have neither family nor friends to talk to about my particular illness. could add to the medical discussion."
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She says that the strangest impression she got was that doctors don't even know what to do when their patient can't speak their language.
So what, "I'm the first immigrant in my town, who has to go through the medical consultation process without a high level of German speaking skills? Surely not?"
Germany's Federal Statistical Office found in 2023 that about 15 percent of people living in Germany do not primarily speak German at home. Even so, as Skergaard was dismayed to discover, there is little in the way of a system for what health care providers should do when they encounter non-German patients. What systems are there for?
Eventually Skergaard found a useful database of doctors who spoke different languages, but his own doctor knew nothing about it.
"It was quite painful and scary and I hope it doesn't happen to anyone else," Skergaard says.
Physicians are also feeling anxious and pressured to provide care outside their comfort zone and capabilities."
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Interpreters are also required in other countries' health departments
In May, the doctors' conference of the German Medical Association voted in favor of two proposals, calling for free professional translation services, on the grounds that the lack of such services would make it difficult for them to do their jobs. Making it difficult.
"It seems that the majority of German doctors would agree," it said.
The draft proposal read, "Every day we doctors treat patients whose mother tongue is not German. In this case communication is limited to family or colleagues from the medical profession, nursing staff or service personnel. It is possible only with help.
However, this mediation of unprofessional language is a burden not only for the interpreter, but also for the medical team and the patients, and it also complicates diagnosis or appropriate treatment."
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Such services are not a new idea. In other European countries it is also up to the health care system rather than the patient to manage a common language.
Skargaard's native Sweden also has a centralized system in place, and if they have an appointment with a non-Swedish-speaking patient, doctors are allowed to book a conference call with an interpreter.
In Norway, patients also have a legal right to receive information about their health and treatment in a language they understand, while the Irish Health Service has issued guidelines on how doctors should find interpreters.
In Germany, however, doctors and patients are often left confused on this issue. And they do this as much as they can, sometimes relying on charities and volunteers.
"We see ourselves as filling the gap of translation that should actually be done professionally," Polina, who is from communications in medical settings, told DW.
But we see that there is a gap, because neither the state nor the health insurance companies nor the doctors' offices or the hospitals are ready to accept the responsibility of bearing the costs."
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Chancellor Olaf Schulz's coalition government is also aware of the problem and promised in its 2021 coalition agreement to ask national state health insurers to cover the cost of translation services.
A spokesman for the German Ministry of Health confirmed to DW that it is indeed still part of the plan and that coalition parties will recommend introducing it into the Health Care Strengthening Act.
But it has not happened yet and seems to have been stalled due to differences in the governing coalition.
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Bernd Meyer, professor of intercultural communication at the University of Mainz, has studied language, integration and culture issues for many years and co-authored a book of recommendations on language in public institutions.
He was invited to the Bundestag last year to explain why the move was so important.
"Everyone says it's a problem and needs to be solved. But implementation at the political level is a problem," he told DW. He said that basically it was stopped during the discussion on the budget itself.
Germany is a multilingual society
As Skergaard and others have noted, Germany is trying to attract skilled foreign workers.
According to the German Economic Institute, around 570,000 jobs will remain vacant in 2023 due to a lack of skilled workers and many companies are struggling due to this. Now the government has entered into an agreement for the recruitment of external experts.
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"Of course, some people would say that German is the official language and anyone who lives here just has to learn it," Skergaard says.
I agree, this is 100% true. But when someone comes from Kenya in a month and then breaks a bone, shouldn't they be taken care of until they take a German intensive course? I think that if Germany wants to be a country that attracts skilled immigrants, translation 'needs to happen'. It may not be good to be, but it needs to be.
"
The fact is that Germany is a multilingual society, but there are also many people who live their lives speaking German very rarely.
A linguist, Skergaard learned German during her four years here, but rarely uses it in her work life at the university where she works.
"You can say it's bad and it shouldn't be, and I can totally understand that point of view," she says. However, she says that what you want and need should be what is necessary to deal with the situation.
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