Here in our distric we are getting a large hispanic population, and as you can imagine we at times have a problem with language, I don't speak spanish and they don't speak english. Our dispatchers will dispatch a spanish speaking deputy if they know language will be a problem or we can request one, or with any luck there will be someone, usualy a minor, who speaks english and can translate on scene. I would like to learn spanish, but our dept doesn't have the budget for lessons and neither do I. I'm sure that other depts have had the same problems with language barriers and I was wondering what their solution to the problem is.

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Similar to what you have done Bro. We have three members who are Hispanic and we use them if they are there. Otherwise we fake it like the best of them. Sometimes PD helps us or as you said persons on-scene can help. Recruit some Hispanic firefighters.
Learn, "Can you walk to the Ambulance" in Spanish, and you are golden :oP
in EMT class, we learned some depts have picture books so people can point to whats wrong and have flashcards. Sure the same thing could happen for fire stuff too.
I hear you Brother I am in the same boat, I do have an EMS field guide that has some spanish translation words and phrases in it that if needed I can use.
You could try this. http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9780763731649/ You could also try volunteer programs that the population is mostly hispanic. After school programs such as Kidco. Working with kids is beneficial because they are not so judgemental when they know you are trying to learn, so that you can help people.

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