Are you ill in a foreign country? Some little language helpers in the case of an emergency

Imagine you are on holiday in a foreign country and have to go to the doctor’s, but you don’t speak the national language, or you speak it rather badly. If you only have a cold, or if a tooth is aching, you may still be able to manage by buying relieving medication at the nearest pharmacy. But what if something worse happens and you may even have to be operated on?

We would like to present some little helpers to you in the form of apps or pdf files, which you can easily have with you everywhere on your smartphone.

The first app we would like to present to you is from the health insurance AOK. It includes medical terms in 26 different languages for the most important symptoms and the most important questions the doctor could ask you. You will find further information here:
https://www.aok.de/inhalt/aok-sprachfuehrer-gesundheit-1/

There is a guidebook for cardiac patients by the publisher S+K on what to bear in mind, if necessary, before leaving for a holiday:
http://www.skverlag.de/index.php?id=23&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2887&cHash=7c2cd770b232d54b54a6091fd34331d4
In addition, you will find a small booklet on cardiac emergencies in foreign countries there: “How to get help” – one for the “Western” language group (English, French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish) and one for the “Eastern” language group (Greek, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Czech).

The language guide published by Novartis in the languages German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Turkish provides translations of important medical terms and phrases relating to the topic of diabetes:
https://www.fairvital.com/newsletter/images/novartis-diabetes-sprachfuehrer.pdf

The following language guide published by dentists and dental technicians of the initiative “proDente” is available in 7 languages and particularly suitable for a visit to the dentist’s:
https://www.prodente.de/media/broschueren/file/sprachfuehrer_komplett.pdf

And if you are not in command of one word of the foreign language, then possibly the “pictograph booklet for dental surgeries“ may help you to communicate without words. This pictograph booklet was published by the German Federal Association of Dentists and can be found here:
https://www.bzaek.de/fileadmin/PDFs/b/piktogrammheft.pdf

In all other cases – if you don’t know exactly what the matter is, if you have a severe previous illness or if you have to be operated on – you should definitely consult a professional interpreter. Only someone who masters both languages (the national language and your language) perfectly can translate the risks of the treatment mentioned by the doctor correctly and also convey your questions and answers correctly to the doctor.

We wish you all a pleasant journey and hope that you won’t need any of the helpers mentioned above.

Any questions?
Just call us:

+49 89 67989548