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Communication Tips- Ethnic Minorities

Dear Colleagues

I recently attended and enjoyed the lecture on the ethnic minority in Ireland. I was particularly curious because I belong to an ethnic minority myself. When I left Italy, 16 months ago, and started to work in Ireland as a registered pharmacist, I had quite a few problems to settle in because the pharmaceutical system is rather different (and to be honest better organized) from the Italian one. Although, the main obstacle to overcome was probably the language.

I've been studied English for 8 years in school and several trips abroad and a previous work experience in a multinational company contributed to build up a discrete level of English. Despite of this, I encountered few problems to understand pronunciation, words and expression of the English spoken in Ireland, problem often and surprisingly shared with other native English people as Australian, US or New Zealand. This should make all of us extremely concerned when dealing with customers who might have a very little English, in order to guarantee a safe and fruitful communication.

First of all, the English taught abroad is often the "Oxford English", therefore the pronunciation of some words in Ireland might be different from the one a foreign person is used to. And sometines it is "tricky different": when at first I was greeted with "good luck", I was very surprised (and surely delighted) how so many people thought I had a "good look"….. "None", "nothing" "funny" and "cut" are other examples of words often pronounced "in an Irish way".

Speed in talking (expecially in some counties as Wexford and Cork) is certainly another element of misunderstanding. I often manage to communicate better with non-English native speakers using the same words an Irish person would but just talking slower. It makes a great difference and the customer feels more comfortable and thinks you're really looking after him.

Anyway, the main cause of problems in communication are words and expression we use everyday and safely with Irish people but that can be really difficult for non-native English speakers.

The main example is the expression "Monday (or any day of the week) week"; well, I did a statiscal survey asking hundreds of people of any foreign country and of any level of education: 55% didn't have a clue, 40% thought it was next "Monday", 5% thought it was "next week". 0% got the real meaning…..

Another expression quite common and quite confusing is "Call back" or "call in tomorrow": most of the foreign people will ring you the next day….."Are you OK?" is often undestood as "Do you feel ok?", so people who are not sick might answer "yes I'm ok" even if they have not been looked after……People with little English, might have some difficult to understand even simple words: "Food" is always to be preferred to "meal" and "once/twice" should be clarified with "one time/two times"

Some misunderstanding might lead to gross mistake: for example: "constipation" in Mediterrean countries is a common expression to indicate also "congestion", so be sure to avoid they're getting a laxative when they actually need a decongestant……

Another useful consideration, when dealing with foreign customer is that in most of the European countries, in the pharmacy all the staff is consisting of graduated pharmacist, therefore the staff in the shop should be aware that some customer could ask delicate question that the pharmacist should deal with, even if they won't ask explicitly for the pharmacist.

Here below I listed some advices that Irish staff should keep in mind for a better commmunication and reciprocal understanding with non-native -English people:
1) Talk slowly, clear and looking at the face of the customer in order to understand if the customer is
2) Don't be afraid of asking question such as "Did you understand?" Is it clear?" and wait for a clear answer from the customer
3) Words or expression common for Irish people might be difficult for foreigners. Here's some simple exemples of how to avoid any possible confusion:
- Monday week - Not this monday but the following one
- Are you OK? - Can I help you?
- Call back/call in - Come back/come in
- Heal - improve/get better
- Sore - pain/painful
- Phlegm - mucus/catarrh/sputum
- Script - prescription
- Piles - haemmorhoids
- What age is he? - How old is he?
- Once/twice - one time/two times
- Meals - food
- Dinner - it's often understood only as the evening meal. Use lunch for the day meal
- Chemist - pharmacy
- Docket - receipt

I honestly hope these few tips might be useful to improve communication with foreign customers.

Luigi Barlassina MPSI