Talking to a doctor abroad when you don’t speak the language

Getting ill abroad is stressful enough without a language barrier. The good news is that a little preparation does most of the work, and for everyday problems a translator app can carry the conversation. For anything serious, there’s one rule that matters more than the rest: ask for a professional interpreter.

Before the appointment

Write things down while you’re calm, in short plain sentences. A doctor can read a list faster than you can explain it, and a list translates well.

• What’s wrong, where, and since when (“Sore throat and fever since Tuesday”)
• How bad it is, on a scale of 0 to 10
• Medicines you take, with their generic names and doses (brand names differ between countries; ibuprofen is ibuprofen everywhere)
• Allergies, especially to medicines
• Long-term conditions, pregnancy, recent surgery
• Your travel insurance policy number and phone number
• Photos of your medicine packages, prescriptions or test results

If you have a European Health Insurance Card and you’re in another EU or EEA country, bring it.

Describing symptoms clearly

Whatever you use to translate, the way you say things matters:

• One symptom per sentence. “My stomach hurts. It started last night. I was sick twice.”
• Point to where it hurts. Gestures don’t need translating.
• Use numbers. Temperature, how many days, how many times, pain from 0 to 10.
• Avoid idioms. “I feel under the weather” or “my head is killing me” can come out very strangely. Say “I feel ill” or “I have a bad headache”.
• Ask for the plan back. “So I take one tablet, three times a day, for five days?” Check doses, times and how long.

Where a translator app helps

At a pharmacy, a reception desk or a walk-in clinic for something minor, a voice translator keeps things moving. With Kenly, you set the phone between you and the pharmacist, each pick your language, and take turns: Kenly translates each of you and says it out loud, and shows the pharmacist their own side of the screen in their language. If it mishears a medicine name, press and hold the line to correct it, or type the name instead.

Machine translation can still get things wrong, especially names of medicines, doses and medical terms. Show the written name of a medicine, and have the important parts repeated back.

When you need a professional interpreter

Use a qualified medical interpreter, not an app, a child or a friend, for:

• a diagnosis or test results,
• decisions about treatment or surgery, and giving consent,
• mental health care,
• anything where you feel a misunderstanding could hurt you.

Ask the clinic or hospital whether they have an interpreter or a telephone interpreting service; many do. Your travel insurer’s assistance line can often help find a doctor who speaks your language, too.

In an emergency

Call the local emergency number first, and don’t wait to sort out the language. 112 works across the European Union and in many other countries; in the United States and Canada it’s 911. Say your location as clearly as you can, and if you know the words, say what happened: “accident”, “not breathing”, “bleeding”. Many emergency services can bring in someone who speaks English.

A card to keep in your phone

Save a note with your blood type if you know it, allergies, medicines, conditions, and an emergency contact, in your language and translated into the language of the country you’re visiting. It takes ten minutes before a trip and can save a lot more in a hurry.