79. It's an Emergency in Any Language

In most countries¹, people can make a telephone call to ask for² medical or police help using just three numbers. In the European Union, the number is 1-1-2. Some Asian countries use 9-9-9. In North America, the number is 9-1-1. Wherever you are³ in the world, when you call for help, you do not want the person answering⁴ to say “I don’t understand you.”

In the United States, most of the workers who answer calls for emergency help speak just one language -- English. But many people in the United States, and people coming here from other countries, do not speak English. So VOA went to a center where requests⁵ for help are received⁶ to find out what happens⁷ when the person calling speaks a language that emergency workers do not understand.

We are about to hear⁸ a request for help. The phone call was answered by a worker in the Willamette Valley 9-1-1 Center in Salem, Oregon, in the northwestern⁹ United States. But it could have been¹⁰ almost anywhere¹¹ in America -- in most urban areas, workers receive requests for emergency help every day in a language other than English¹².

Dispatcher: “9-1-1”   Caller: [Cannot be understood¹³]   Dispatcher: “Do you have an emergency?”
Caller: [“Español?”] Dispatcher: “Do you have an emergency?” Caller: “Si!”  Dispatcher: “OK. Just a moment...” Now, the worker will call someone¹⁴ at an agency that employs people¹⁵ who speak the caller¹⁶’s language. Every 9-1-1 center in the northwestern United States works with such agencies¹⁷, called emergency translation¹⁸ services.  TeleLanguage: “Thanks for calling. What language?”

Willamette Valley 9-1-1 Center: “Spanish.” TeleLanguage: “One moment please.” Computer voice: “Thank you. Your call may be monitored¹⁹ or recorded for quality...” On this call, it takes almost one minute²⁰ for a translator to be connected²¹ to the person calling for help.

Andrea Tobin is a training manager²² at the emergency center and a longtime²³ worker there. She says the wait can be difficult for both²⁴ the emergency workers and the person who needs help. “We get pretty tense²⁵, especially if we know it is a medical call²⁶ -- or this person that is in obvious distress²⁷.”

“When it is Spanish, it is pretty quick and easy for us to understand. When it is a different dialect, it becomes more complicated²⁸ for us because we don’t recognize²⁹ them all. And then they put us on hold³⁰ while³¹ they get³² an interpreter for the language that we need. That can sometimes³³ be very quick. Sometimes it is 30 seconds or a minute.”

The most-common³⁴ language needing translation is Spanish. Others include Russian, Vietnamese, and Chinese. Some managers of emergency call centers in urban areas of the northwestern United States say they are experiencing an increase³⁵ in requests for help from people speaking languages heard³⁶ in African and Middle Eastern³⁷ countries.

Translation companies like³⁸ Telelanguage and Language Line say they can help people in 200 languages.
Mark Buchholz is the director of the Willamette Valley 9-1-1 center. He says using these services is less-costly³⁹ than employing workers who speak more than one language. Only three of his 55 workers speak more than one language. Two of them speak English and Spanish. A third⁴⁰ speaks English and Russian.

Mr. Buchholz says centers like his⁴¹ try to employ people who speak more than one language, but he says it is not easy to find these workers. “It’s really tough⁴² to require⁴³ a second language as a requirement⁴⁴ to work for us. While it is important -- we do pay a bonus -- the volume isn’t significant enough⁴⁵ for us to have that as an exclusive requirement for hiring⁴⁶.”

A man has called the Salem, Oregon 9-1-1 center for help. He is speaking in Spanish. He says two men in a car are chasing⁴⁶ him. The interpreter is listening to the man, then talking to the emergency worker, who will send police to help the man once they know where he is.

Caller: [Words in Spanish] Interpreter: “Lee Street, One Way?” Caller: “Ya.” Interpreter: “I am standing right at the corner of One Way and Lee Street.” Dispatcher: “We don’t have a One Way.”

It took the three people another minute to find out that the man was on the corner of Lee and 12th Street. Lee Street is a one-way street -- cars are only permitted to drive on the street in one direction. The caller thought that was the name of the street.

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Vocabulary

1. In most countries = na maioria dos países
2. ask for = solicitar, pedir
3. Wherever you are = onde quer que voce esteja
4. answering = respondendo
5. requests = pedidos
6. received = recebidos
7. find out what happens = descobrir o que acontece
8. about to hear = prestes a ouvir
9. northwestern = região noroeste
10. it could have been = poderia ter sido
11. almost anywhere = praticamente em qualquer lugar
12. other than English = diferente do ingles
13. Cannot be understood = não pode ser entendido
14. call someone = chamar alguém
15. employs people = emprega pessoas
16. caller = pessoa que faz a ligação
17. such agencies = tais agencias
18. translation = tradução
19. may be monitored = pode ser monitorada
20. takes almost one minute = leva quase um minuto
21. to be connected = ser conectado
22. training manager = gerente de treinamento
23. longtime = de longo tempo
24. both = ambos
25. We get pretty tense = ficamos bastante tensos
26. medical call = chamada médica
27. distress = aflição
28. becomes more complicated = torna-se mais complicado
29. recognize = reconhecer
30. put us on hold = nos colocam em espera
31. while = enquanto
32. get = conseguir, obter
33. sometimes = às vezes
34. The most-common = o(a) mais comum
35. experiencing an increase = vivenciando um aumento
36. heard = ouvido(a)
37. Middle Eastern = região do oriente médio
38. companies like = empresas como
39. less-costly = menos caro
40. A third  = um terço
41. centers like his = centros como o dele
42. tough = dificil
43. require = exigir
44. requirement = exigencia
45. enough = o suficiente
46. hiring = contratação