Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: language barrier in medicine

  • Words

    Riley ScherrIrvine, California, United States Patients in the lobby think I speak Spanish very well. Although I momentarily feel validated, those compliments would mean more if I did not know I was repeating the same conversation cyclically, drawing from a carefully prepared arsenal of questions and responses and an accent I parrot from the farmworkers…