Language Barrier

After a trip to Mexico and talking to the Firefighters over there, or "Bomberos" as they call themselves, I became curious as to know...

How many of you have ever been faced with a language barrier, and how did it affect the incident?

What do you do if you're faced with someone who speaks little to no English in an emergency, who do you call?

Does your department carry those quick reference sheets made specially for EMS and Fire?

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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on September 14, 2010 at 11:33pm

let me know - anytime I can lift your day :-)

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Permalink Reply by Forrest Post on September 15, 2010 at 12:36am

I never thought my discussion would become a featured discussion and rack up 7 pages of comments!

I love this site, I could go on and on for hours talking about how much I've learned just by reading thru these forums and blogs and featured stories.
I'd just like to say Thank You to all of you on here for everything you've done to help me improve myself as a probie. Your $0.02 and knowledge is greatly appreciated, sure are keeping me entertained as well with this discussion! :)

Forrest

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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on September 15, 2010 at 12:41am

Forrest - you owe us each a nickel - since we are WORTH WAY more than 2 cents ;-) [ok, at least I am!]

and I am sure there will be more fighting and laughter on your discussion over the next few days - perhaps you can get to page 11 or 12 :-)

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Permalink Reply by Forrest Post on September 15, 2010 at 12:53am

Fix the Fire and EMS economy so I can actually get a job, then I'll start paying.

And too bad it went from serious talk about incidents and that too immigration laws and arguing. :P

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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on September 15, 2010 at 1:14am

yeah normally I get paper money thrown at me - so nickels would hurt - and won't pay the bills

sorry - too big of a mess for me to fix - i am busy fixing other messes

and yes, that is what happens when you give people freedom of thought and freedom of speech - God only knows where it will head... sometimes it will head straight into hell

and i assure you - it was ALL serious talk - immigration laws and DEBATING are serious issues in our society which influence not only us as colleagues but also patient care

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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on September 15, 2010 at 3:24am

Nope, it's as English as almost any other word - Been in the language for hundreds of years with roots in German, French, Latin or Greek.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck#Etymology

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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on September 15, 2010 at 4:15am

yes - exactly - thanks Vic - french, latin, greek & german...

from now on WE ALL shall speak ONLY in those languages - none of these outgrowth languages, Paul... back to our roots !