smartphone translator for rotations

[California2000]

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So I will be starting my core rotations soon at a hospital whose patients are almost entirely spanish speaking only. I'm a little nervous since my spanish is very rusty since high school. I was wondering if anyone has tried using smartphone translators like google translate or the samsung s translate to talk to patients. I wonder if this would be frowned upon by attendings or look unprofessional or even how effective it would be. I obviously will try to learn as much medical spanish as possible but in the beginning I may be struggling. Thanks!

 

[futuredoctor10]

Hmm I am not aware of any good app which exists that will really work with translating from voice to text. So, you would have to sit there and type into your smartphone app, which does not make sense to do and is not really feasible in the clinical setting.

Are there translators at this hospital? There probably are. At our hospital, we have translators we can "page" who come and basically translate everything [and we do not have a huge Hispanic population] so I am sure they have something set up in this regard.

 

[itek2OD]

I am presently in the same situation - though its eye exams only. I have no spanish skills whatsoever. Presently I use google translate. To save time during the exam, populate your phrasebook with common term / phrases ie look right or, lift your arm please / say ahh, etc. Its been nice to see the pt light up hearing the much better spanish voice than mine! The app will translate spoken word pretty well.
Unfortunately, I think to use google translate you need to be online for voice / speaking translation - another reason to populate your phrasebook so you can read out phrases in 'broken' spanish.

I woul ask or search for a medical exam spanish cheatsheet - either at the clinic or maybe anather student that speaks Spanish in your class can make one.

cheers,

 

[California2000]

Hmm I am not aware of any good app which exists that will really work with translating from voice to text. So, you would have to sit there and type into your smartphone app, which does not make sense to do and is not really feasible in the clinical setting.

Are there translators at this hospital? There probably are. At our hospital, we have translators we can "page" who come and basically translate everything [and we do not have a huge Hispanic population] so I am sure they have something set up in this regard.

Yes I hope there are translators as I'm sure I will need to use them a lot in the beginning. Some of these programs like google translate and S translator are suppose to be able to understand spoken word and then translate and speak it into the language you need. I haven't tried it yet on a native spanish speaker so I'm not sure how accurate or effective it really is.

 

[California2000]

I am presently in the same situation - though its eye exams only. I have no spanish skills whatsoever. Presently I use google translate. To save time during the exam, populate your phrasebook with common term / phrases ie look right or, lift your arm please / say ahh, etc. Its been nice to see the pt light up hearing the much better spanish voice than mine! The app will translate spoken word pretty well.
Unfortunately, I think to use google translate you need to be online for voice / speaking translation - another reason to populate your phrasebook so you can read out phrases in 'broken' spanish.

I woul ask or search for a medical exam spanish cheatsheet - either at the clinic or maybe anather student that speaks Spanish in your class can make one.

cheers,

Thanks for the advice! I'm not sure if I would be able to get online service at the hospital. I will have to see.

 

[itek2OD]

Actually I just tried out Google Translate on airplane mode and it spoke all Spanish and English phrase I had in the phrasebook! To get more fluent spanish (not just an english voice reading/ bastardizing spanish) I had to uncheck "always use my settings" in the voice input/output menu in android settings.