The other day I was at an assisted living facility doing an inspection and the place had several serious violations. I was trying to communicate to the people working there what the problem was, why it was a problem and what they needed to do to fix it. I wasn't able to get my points across because they didn't speak English very well. Being the dedicated inspector I am, I thought, "Well I just need to learn this language so I can do my job better!"
And that problem starting my mind rolling. How many languages would I need to know to communicate with everyone I encounter during a month of routine inspections? Here is the list off the top of my head:
- Spanish
- Mandarin Chinese
- Cantonese Chinese
- Hindi
- Punjabi
- Arabic
- Russian
- Vietnamese
- Tagalog
- Polish
- Italian
- Thai
- Ukranian
- Persian
- Haitian Creole
- Hebrew
Sometimes the hardest thing about being a health inspector is not what you have to know, but how to say what you know.
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