"Germany is a multilingual society, but access to health care is often frustrating for people who don't speak German. The government is planning to introduce translation services, but implementation remains difficult."
https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-health-care-system-has-a-language-problem/a-70652431
by ilithium
48 comments
The only possible solution is to put up billboards and posters all over the country saying: “Sprich Deutsch du Hurensohn!”
On reddit, this has been really working out.
At the same time multilingual workforce that could fix this problem is already available, but being kept out by language requirements among other things.
Germany has a resistance to multilingual services that I haven’t encountered as much in other countries. Even back in the US you can get assistance in Spanish in many places. I haven’t encountered much of a problem communicating with doctors, but it has been difficult at times navigating front desk services over the phone when most don’t speak much English. I typically go to the office in person since I can navigate German conversation much better in person. Obviously this problem will progressively lessen as my German is improving, but I can empathize with others who are either visiting or just starting their German studies and have to navigate the process with less German than I possess.
Say what you will about the state of healthcare in the US (and there are obviously _myriad_ things to criticize) but it’s worth noting that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act entitles “Limited English Proficient” individuals to medical translation services at any healthcare facility that receives federal funding.
If nothing else, the fact that the US is better at this than Germany should be embarrassing and an impetus to fix the problem.
I watched another documentary that already went on with the language barrier issues of Germany, a multi-culture, multi-national country that still insists in being as monolingual as possible.
It’s a ridiculous disconnect with the very globalization efforts the country pretends to be after. From the ridiculous German speaking only Ausländerbehörde cases to the healthcare issue approached in these news to just about everything.
Berlin and few other exceptions aside, it is so not true that “all germans speak english” – Netherlands and what not? Sure but not Germany.
Maybe I’m a bit more riled up due to being one of the mentioned who do not primarily speak German at home but damn, it is such a real thing I felt on my own skin.
Some years ago, my wife had to be hospitalized in Germany while on vacation. They entered her data into their computer and needed to add her country of residence. However, the USA did not exist in their data base – not under any name. She does not speak any German. I, however, do. I had to be present for absolutely everything because there was no way for staff and/or doctors to communicate with her. In English.
It’s almost like life doesn’t exist outside of Germany.
Granted, it’s been a few years and I can only hope that things have improved.
> He never had a reason to learn German
I kinda have to disagree with this statement from the article.
Yes, he had a reason to learn German. Specifically many things like health care, government offices etc are only provided in German, as the article says.
I think it’s kinda crazy to expect translations services. Sure there are some countries that provide it, but I have been to doctors in Spain, Poland, Greece and never had translation service offered.
Edit: I did a bit of googling and there are even services out there that provide telephone based medical interpretation.
Can confirm for my employer (university). We still don’t have a lot of paperwork (like info on work contracts, infos on data security, informed consent) in German because Amtssprache Deutsch! And I don’t know how it is now but before Covid I had a lot of colleagues like secretaries and/or clerks who had to attend English courses to get to A2 level. And we don’t talk about people who never had English in school. All of us had because back then those who hadn’t were in their late 60s and now in their 70s and not in their 50s and now 60s.
That’s why we have tons of migra kids who are and were translators for their parents.
Access to health care is often frustrating for people who DO speak German, too.
I work in the health sector myself…we don’t have a language problem, but more and more people are coming for treatment who don’t speak German or English. Most of them don’t bring an interpreter with them and that is the real problem. Another problem is that most of them are unfriendly and say that you can use Google Translate or something similar…which we aren’t allowed to do because that doesn’t count as providing information…and that’s why most of them are only treated as emergency cases or, if possible, sent away with a request to come back at a later date with an interpreter or something similar.
Germany is just an inherently incredibly conservative culture. People talk as though Germany is a modern, 21st Century powerhouse, but that’s only the case because its manufacturing industry survived the ’80s better than all the neighbouring countries who offshored everything to the third world. Germany is thoroughly uninterested in progress. The entire society is built around the idea that everyone is a nuclear family of German people where the mother stays at home to tend to the kids while the husband goes to work at the Volkswagen factory, where he somehow makes enough money to look after little Helga and Klaus with their 200 Euro schoolbags, and where all correspondence can be carried out by post and replied to within 6 weeks.
As an Ausländer who loves Germany and lives here for quite some time, the language its NOT the problem with German Healthcare.
The true problem that I hear most immigrants complaining is that doctors do not take the descriptions of sympthoms seriously or offer ressistence to doing exams that could be important. Truth be told, after some time I found a hausärztin that I really trust and I feel she does take me seriously.
>Hedvig Skirgard, a Swedish linguistics. ..
>The strangest thing, she remembers, was the impression she got that the doctors did not appear to know what to do when they don’t share a language with their patients. “Could I be the first immigrant in my town to undergo a medical procedure without having advanced German-speaking skills? Surely not?”
“Not providing the servie in English” and “Only providing the service in German” are two different things.
My GP speaks German and Persian.
His holiday stand-in speaks German and Bulgarian.
My wife’s former GP speaks German and Russian. Her gyn speaks German and Arabic.
I know former students of mine who did their apprantaceships in the medical fields as doctor’s assistances who spoke languages such as Turkish, Croatian or completely exotic languages such as Saxon. And their English simply sucked.
Friend of mine is a psycho-therapist. He speaks German and Romanian. His English is horrendous.
All of these people had German and another language at least as two nativish languages alongside each other or German as second language. But this does not touch the sides of any English-proficiency.
And I feel like this may be one issue here: **Multi**language society also means that their is simply not a single language everybody could default to. English is spoken understood in higher earning and specifically academic social bubbles – be it of native German speakers or natives of any other language – but that is not the case in the whole of society, quite the opposite. A translation service to English is not the meat and potatoes here. And a translation service that covers the dozen or so most spoken languages in Germany will be a long, difficult project to set up and specifically to finance.
Edit: Come to think of it, I don’t think a lack of translators (publically funded if push comes to shove, because health insurance contributions are not high enough as they are already) is the problem. The lack of multilingual service (German plus whatever other language; ; English does **not** count) may be. And maybe the more sustainable fix.
As a multilingual, I find this total refusal of anywhere “official” to use anything but German frustrating. Like, ultimately I don’t need to care because while I don’t speak much German in day to day life, I’m fluent and I have the correct “habitus” to be taken seriously in most places, and I also made some coin interpreting for people back in the day, but I still dislike the arrogance.
As people mentioned, yeah, you can’t expect everywhere to cover Russian/Turkish/Polish/Arabic all at the same time, but come on, basic English is piss-easy.
Germany is in no way a mulitlanguage society. Everybody learns german in school. Other languages are not officially used.
If you want to live in germany you should learn german before you arrive and try to get better as soon as possible. Which means language classes and immersion from the start. Only using german Media, only trying to talk in german, writing in german. Especially at home.
It will still take you 3 to 5 years to be fluent. Whenever you need help with complex topics like federal offices or the doctor get a professional translator.
People will not adjust to your language. You want to live in this country. So you cannot expect, that the german culture will adjust to your needs. Germans in general expect you to integrate into their culture.
For me language has not been the biggest barrier. I can get by talking with healthcare professionals in german. But it’s the attitude and just piss poor lack of empathy that drives me nuts sometimes.
Case being: due to a chronic disease, I need to do a blood panel every 3 months or so, for the time being. I am an ambulant patient in a large public hospital in Berlin. I go there, I get my blood taken, sometimes I talk to a doctor as well. All good.
I would like to know what my blood test results are, as one would. Not just for the disease specific markers, but general health markers too (e.g. blood sugar, cholesterol, which they also do). Sometimes I do specific tests as well. So, naturally, I inquire via the contact email that is listed in the patient document, if they could kindly send me the results of my analyses.
Mail 1 no reply, mail 2 a few days later no reply, several phone calls nobody answers, mail 3 “can you please give me the results because I need to know if I need to ask my GP for X and Y”. All of this in german.
Finally (this ordeal takes 9 days) they replied with a “we don’t send results by email, you have to come pick them up in person”.
Sure, let me take a morning off work to pick up a piece of paper it would take you 10 minutes to send. Ok. I am pissed so I stalk my latest doctor in their online directory and mail him directly, asking for the results – which he had said would be sent to me by email.
He sends me a PDF with them 3 hours later by email. No muss, no fuss.
I mean, probably silly me for not reaching out to the doctor directly, but doing so is bypassing “the system”, so I didn’t do it. Live and learn.
Or you could not do that and offer better german courses.
Imo everyone who lives in Germany (not just for 5 Years or so) should have to learn the language.
You plan to live somewhere for a year or longer? You better learn that language.
This is a hill I’ll gladly die on. I have 0 sympathy with “expats” who can’t be arsed to sit their arse down and learn the language of the country they live in.
A friend of mine from the US is a visiting professor. He can get by in German, and is taking a course too though he’s not required to do so.
Meanwhile, he needs a doctor for some medications he takes regularly. I recommended my Hausärztin, because she is good as well as friendly, but am not sure if she actually can communicate with him in English.
Anyone who has gotten an Abitur here should be, theoretically, able to speak English. As we know, many people are too scared to speak English. That’s part of the problem too; Germany needs a new Fehlerkultur.
And yes, even simple German is hard to learn, even if you are skilled at languages. And it takes a while.
If someone is here for a course of studies or a temporary job etc they should be made to feel welcome even while they are learning the language. Shaming foreigners, mocking our accents, or just refusing to help, is counterproductive and adds to isolation and ignorance.
How about if people would actually put an effort into learning the language of the country they are living in. Nothing against newcomers or tourists or such but people who already live here for years and still don’t speak it…should not complain.
Germany doesn’t have a language problem, there are preople in Germany who don’t want to speak nor learn the german language.
as someone who has used healthcare in germany, the main problem with language i have encountered is not the doctors. it’s the receptionists, the initial paperwork and sometimes the nurses. most of the time, the doctors i’ve met speak at least 3 languages. their english is always good enough to communicate. the problem is when you want to interact with the reception and explain some complicated situation you have with the doctor, and the receptionists make almost zero effort and are sometimes hostile and mean. this is coming from someone who can speak german at around B2 level (not great but not bad). i wonder how it must be for people who don’t speak german well at all. sometimes the issue with paperwork is not a big deal because the doctor will make an english version for you, but for me the worst paperwork is when you go to a new practice and you have to fill out the forms where you tell them about pre conditions and data privacy etc. those take ages to complete because i have to spend ages googling translations for the vocabulary for different medical conditions on the forms. but otherwise its a one time thing and you can kind of get by, but it’s not easy. additionally often the nurses only speak german and have a similar attitude to the receptionists.
i don’t think it’s their fault or responsibility to have to speak more than just german, it’s more about their attitude to patients. they make you feel unwelcome and uncomfortable when you are just trying your best to communicate.
> Germany is a multilingual society
No, it’s not. This is written by some expat who lives in Berlin or München, getting by in their daily activities, but not really integrated at all. I can bet on that
Your very first statement makes me burst into laughter
Germany and France cannot be termed a s multilingual
May be reserve those terms to Belgium or Swiss or Netherlands or Sweden to certain extent
Of all the European states not Germany for the sake of god
There are already services: https://triaphon.org/
https://www.lingatel.de/branchen/medizinischer-bereich/
What we are REALLY talking about is who pays.
Personally, I think that the patient should pay themselves. If they want to avoid paying learn German.
If you are planning to live your life in germany you have to speak our common Language, wich is German!
‘Germany is a multilingual society…’ – No it’s not.
No germany is not a multilingual society.
Everybody who wants to live in germany has to learn gern. The immigrants has to adapt not germany.
No it isn’t. If you want to live here, learn German. Problem solved.
Of course, some would say German is the official language and that anyone who lives here just has to learn it. “Oh, I agree, that’s 100% true,” said Skirgard. “But when someone arrives, month one from Kenya, and they break their bone, should they not get care until they take a German intensive course? I think if Germany wants to be a country that attracts skilled immigrants, then translation might be a ‘need to have’ and not a ‘nice to have’.”
– from the article.
If you want equal access to a country’s systems then you should learn that language of that country.
In general, german taxpayers should not have to pay for others not willing to learn German to have translators and people should not expect otherwise.
Here’s the thing and this will get hates, but truth hurts: you can’t expect your doctor, nurse, secretary to speak any language you please. We’re not even talking about English, we’re talking about anything and people get their panties in a twist because their 60-year-old Hausarzt doesn’t speak Somali. And here’s the other thing, doctors and medical professionals make themselves liable if they tell you something, it’s interpreted wrong, and you get the wrong message. Like do you want to get sued, because you had to talk in a language you’re neither native nor comfortable with and your patient understood you wrong?
I’ve lived abroad in a non-English native country and faced the exact same issues. You know what I do? I ask friends and family that are fluent or native to accompany me. I rather have my doctor speak to the third person in their native language to get the point across, then get some half-assed info and I can’t even really ask questions.
Why is it such a bad and hated concept to learn the language of the country you’re living in? Why does everyone have to adjust to *you*? Why can’t you adjust to the heavy majority? Why are you being complicated and an Extrawurst?
germany is not a multilingual society. case closed. If u plan to live in germany for a significant amount of time u need to learn at least some german
How is it a multilingual society? First time I hear that…
You need to take a language class to legally migrate or pass an exam in German to get the nationally
Speaking neither German nor English as a patient ist not the problem of the health care system in a first world country.
Can’t confirm. You should learn german and not expect everyone else to learn english so that they can accommodate you. I know nobody will like this lol but it’s the truth. Simple rules. Also, trying to live somewhere without knowledge of the native language will never get you far. Periodt.
How abour learn the language….
>Germany is a multilingual society
uhm, no not really, it is only German. Belgium or Switzerland are multilingual societies.
We might be multilingual because of a lot of immigrants, but that doesn’t mean that everyone needs to know English.
That is the wrong assumption. The person your are talking to might not know English, but maybe fluid polish, russian, french or Arabic.
The language is not the biggest problem, and the only one for that matter. My wife is pregnant with twins, and she has been staying in the hospital for 2 weeks now due to risk of pre-term birth. For 5 months we begged every doctor we went to for a check up to give her an employment ban AKA Beschäftigungsverbot because she had 2 miscarriages in 2022 and 2023 due to the same problem. A total of 6 different doctors were passing the ball to each other or another one saying they cannot give her employment ban as it was not in their right to do so. Finally a specialist gynaecologist took note of everything and immediately gave her one, and sent us to the hospital because he didn’t like what he saw on the ultra sound. I asked the doctor in the hospital who would have been responsible if something happened to her because no one took us seriously of what we were saying about the problems she had before, she just looked at me scared and confused saying she has no idea and she hopes it won‘t come to that. To make a long story short my point is that I have felt many many times in the years I’ve been living here that doctors want to keep your visits fast short and as stressless as possible for them, while curing everything with Paracetamol, Ibuprofen and an advice to keep your stress down and take some personal time off. Writing a sick note for a couple weeks is no pain for them at all, but that doesn’t always help and the problem becomes bigger and harder to solve as they have no interest in solving it.
My perspective as a foreign doctor, working in Germany for the last 10 years. Have worked in 2 other European countries.
The system ist near the boiling point. Too low financing per case basis with a wish to provide maximal health care without any financial ceiling and no restrictions regardless of age, disability, prognosis or previous conditions.
There are several problems with non-german speaking patients.
Firstly we have 2-10 minutes for every outpatient patient, so we have no possibility/chance/ or wishes to find ylu an interpreter. We are also not paid for your interpreter, he cost more than our quarterly earnings per patient. We don’t have time to try to communicate with your throug different interpreter tools or on speaker phone with your friend or family. I might bei doing up to 20 patients an hour as a specialist. So sorry but I can’t afford 20-30 Minutes only for you every time.
The secon problem is, that we take serious diseases and serious symptoms very seriously, but self limitin conditions arent going to get more than a couple seconds from me. I know I know. If you get diarrhoea or viral fever or a vague subjective subjective feeling of fever your are going to get a lot of attention in some countries and a lot of special medication (probiotic, immunsupplements, vitamins, antibiotics), but if you get a complicated cancer or sever heart disease all the doctors are going to start ignoring you. In Germany it’s different, you are going to get a lot of attention for complicated diseases.
I think if the praxis front office ladies were a bit more understanding and had a tiny bit of empathy things would be different already. Not only in praxis only, the whole customer service but I’m focusing only on the health services for the post topic of course.
I had these special ladies cutting the call as soon as they hear a couple words from my mouth. They don’t require translation, they require education. Be better than that. Help another human
Last month, I was feeling incredibly sick—nauseous, dizzy, and alone at home—so I called the German medical helpline at 116117. I speak a bit of German, but because I was feeling so terrible, I could only manage to say, Ich bin krank und alleine. Aber ich spreche Englisch. Sprechen Sie Englisch?
The woman on the line replied « No » (in German), so I struggled to explain myself further. It wasn’t working, so I said, « Ok, I will try a translation app. » But then, shockingly, she just hung up on me. I couldn’t believe someone would treat a scared, sick person like that, especially in such a sensitive role.
To make matters worse, I couldn’t find any way to report or file a complaint on their website. It was honestly one of the worst experiences I’ve had since moving to the EU. When I was in France in a similar situation, the operator couldn’t speak English either, but she reassured me, said she’d find someone who could, and actually called me back!
It’s hard to understand how some people can show so little empathy. Moments like these make you realize that some people might just be completely disconnected!!
If you can‘t speak the language or at least English and go to an English speaking doctor, you have to take a translator with you if you want any type of care. (Not talking about emergencies.)
Try to find your own community, there will be someone who speaks your language AND German.
Reading many of the comments here, do you learn the language of every country you go on vacation to?
Because according to your own logic, if you go to Croatia for a week in the summer and you need a doctor, unless you speak Croatian, you don’t get medical care. Correct?
Or if you go to Italy, and your child gets injured, but you don’t speak fluent Italian, your kid just doesn’t get medical care. Correct?
Or what the hell are you all talking about?
Maybe they should learn the natives tongue if they want to profit from it
Germany might be a multilingual society, but it has an official language. If you stay here long term and do not care to learn it, you are the problem. That is true for any country.
While Germany has people from many cultures, religions, ethnicities, and languages, it is NOT a multilingual society.
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