The Power of Language

The Power of Language

I work as an Internal Medicine physician and often see patients for their primary care. I enjoy this quite a bit and often try to say things to establish a relationship with the patient and make them comfortable. This does not always go as intended.

During my school days I had been very poor at foreign languages. I had taken French in school, but had to drop out in eighth grade as I just could not pick it up. My French teacher’s admonishment of “Silaunse, Ekoutez Bien” (silence, listen properly) still rings in my ears. I have always been in awe of people who could speak different languages.

There was a time I had a new patient coming in for his first visit. He was in his sixties and was a recent immigrant from the Philippines. I had been good friends with a person from the Philippines during my residency days and knew that they spoke a language called Tagalog.

I had also developed a fascination with the Google translate program. When I saw that this new patient was from the Philippines, I quickly looked up how to say hello in Tagalog on Google translate. The word was ‘Kamusta’. I went into his room. He was accompanied by his daughter. I came in and said Kamusta to them.

They both appeared taken aback and looked surprised. They then asked me - can you speak Tagalog? No, I told them I looked it up. They both laughed and thanked me. Then my patient told me that he was from the island of Cebu, and his mother tongue was called Bisaya and not Tagalog.

Now, I felt really foolish. I had not known that there was more than one language in the Philippines. However, we all laughed about it. I have since then developed an excellent relationship with him. Interestingly, a few months later I had an Intern originally from Maine, doing a rotation with me. When we went to see this patient, he started speaking to him in fluent Bisaya. Both me and the patient were totally amazed. The Intern then told us that he had spent two years doing missionary work on my patient's home island of Cebu.

I had another patient who had been born in Germany. She was in her sixties. From Google translate, I greeted her with ‘Guten Tag Fraulein” (Good day Miss). I was curtly informed by her that she was a Frau (Mrs) and not Fraulein (Miss)! I guess Google translate is not perfect.

I had better luck with a Moroccan patient. I started with “Ahlan Washalan” Arabic for welcome. A Yoruba patient from Nigeria was greeted with “Ek Aasan” (Good Afternoon). Since I grew up in Nigeria, I did not need Google for this. Similarly, a French Belgian was welcomed with a “Bonjour” (Good day).  I can still remember some French from my school days.

There are some languages that I have not attempted. One was a patient from Eritrea. He spoke several languages. I have also had patients from diverse places such as Burma and Russia. All these patients spoke good English, so I got by easily.

Why do I insist in trying to speak these different languages? The first reason is that part of me has this fascination with languages. I look at multi lingual people with envy. I myself primarily speak English and can carry a conversation in my mother tongue Urdu. I can also speak some Hausa which is the local language in Northern Nigeria where I grew up.

The other reason is that it can be a great start to a physician patient relationship. Even when I get it wrong, most patients appreciate it tremendously.

I still remember one particular patient. She was an elderly Indian lady. She was brought in by her son. She had developed dementia and had no one to look after her in India. Her son who lived in the United States had brought her back to live with him. Her dementia was advanced and she did not speak much, and looked at me with a blank stare.

She was from the same North Eastern part of India that my parents had been born. Her mother tongue Hindi is very similar to the spoken form of my mother tongue Urdu, and I started to speak to her. She recognized what I was saying and suddenly brightened up. An amazing thing then happened. She started answering back and talking.

That was a very rewarding experience. On that day I learnt the amazing power of language.