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Foreign Student Hospitalized In China Gets Note From Nurse Who Doesn’t Speak English, And The Comments Crack Us Up
Language mix-ups and misunderstandings can make for hilarious travel anecdotes - but not when they happen at a hospital. An international student was hospitalized in China and fell under the care of a nurse that didn't speak English. Understanding the importance of getting the proper medical information across to her patient, she used some creativity to write him a detailed note that used some pretty frighting graphics.
Reddit user under the username of WaspDog, uploaded the note and internet users went wild. To her credit if you know the context her message is clear: the patient has surgery tomorrow and tonight they can't have food or water after 10 pm. But of course, that didn't stop people from coming up with their own hilarious interpretations. Scroll down below to see what people came up with and don't forget to upvote your favs!
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Ah, they speak my language. Easy! RN Speak: NBM post 2200hrs for OT tomorrow @ 0800hrs. Translated: So basically, no eating or drinking from 10pm for operating theatres tomorrow morning.
Your slaughter will be at 8:00 a.m. You might wanna skip the 10 p.m. meal and drinks, altogether.
Actually, considering that the nurse spoke no English, she writes it damned well! Even spelled "tomorrow" right! And her little graphics are perfectly drawn. I'd strongly consider urging her to move to the USA. Some of the nurses we have here could use some writing and art lessons so that patients could understand them!
Lol! TIL that in China, they use butcher knives to operate. And dirty ones at that!
Anyone who had had surgery before , knows the rules before an operation and wouldn't be scared by the drawings . The nurse made a clever effort to explain . Think positive people .Don't ridicule others .
For the last part , The nurse should draw a picture of a doctor holding a scalpel instead of only a blood - dripping knife so the patient would understand better and not be scared .
Easy no drink and food after 10pm. Tommorow blood test at 8 am
May be she meant do after 12:00pm dont eat or drink ; You'll be operated at 8:00am
LOL reminds me of my first time going to Serbia when I was 9yo, and not knowing the lingo, drawing to be understood XD helped me develop drawing skills xD
Fantastic! Ahaha. Surgery translates to "open knife/ knife open" in colloquial - just fyi :) the graphic translation occured because western medicine and cutting into living things is/was still a new form of treatment. Buddhism did not believe in cutting into living beings. It treated more through meditation massages and by application of medicine on the surface of the body -
Meet me at 10 PM in New Orleans for Ice Cream and Bacon and we will do some Nitric Oxide and some plumbing so tomorrow at 8 AM we can become blood brothers! That was too easy. Next puzzle please!
Everyone is making fun of the note, but I think the nurse did a fantastic job of communicating with a patient who does not speak her language. I would hope I would get a nurse as capable if I am ever in a hospital overseas.
It happens. Not everyone speaks English and you can't count on some random hospital in some random community in a country where English isn't the first language to have someone who speaks English. But the bloody knife drawing is still funny. Poor nurse. Big props for the creativity.
She knew "tonight" and "tomorrow morning" but not "eat" "drink" or "surgery"?
Let's take a wild guess and say those words are easy to Google translate.
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Ok, I immediately thought of Gremlins, no food late at night, and no water or murder will happen tomorrow.
programmer would be..... if time = 22:00 to 8:00 No Food; No Water; Else Killed.
This is why one needs to know at least a second language. Also, when translating from one language into another, you really need two people, one whose native tongue is Language A and knows Language B, and vice versa. Web sites with wacky translations and misunderstandings abound.
No Rice but you can ask for something else. Sorry, no bath tonight. In the morning, a fellow named Jack will visit and show you his knife collection.
My only takeaway in this article is that the writer used "Frighting"(v) instead of "Frightening"(ajd).
I love the fact that the nurse found a red pen to make sure we knew there would be blood involved
This is the kind of passive-aggressive note I would leave somewhere, ngl.
I thought it said: Dont eat or drink because we are going to kill you at 8 AM tomorrow... Anyone wity me here?
If you eat or drink after 10pm you will become a gremlin and we will have to kill you. (I know it's really midnight)
Lol. It says do not eat or drink after 10pm. You will get surgery at 8am
Not so much funny, more meant to be soothing for the patient and "patch adamsy" /"hawkeye pierce" - nursing. As in small joke to prepare for surgery (that can be nerve wrecking as a thought.) And also because the nurse does not speak english. Maybe even because it was the end of her shift and she tried to lighten up the moment. (I don't think there s so much to "get" about Asians or PEOPLE. If it concerns ya it concerns ya. If it ain't it ain't ;)
Load More Replies... Fantastic! Ahaha. Surgery translates to "open knife/ knife open" in colloquial - just fyi :) the graphic translation occured because western medicine and cutting into living things is/was still a new form of treatment. Buddhism did not believe in cutting into living beings. It treated more through meditation massages and by application of medicine on the surface of the body -
Meet me at 10 PM in New Orleans for Ice Cream and Bacon and we will do some Nitric Oxide and some plumbing so tomorrow at 8 AM we can become blood brothers! That was too easy. Next puzzle please!
Everyone is making fun of the note, but I think the nurse did a fantastic job of communicating with a patient who does not speak her language. I would hope I would get a nurse as capable if I am ever in a hospital overseas.
It happens. Not everyone speaks English and you can't count on some random hospital in some random community in a country where English isn't the first language to have someone who speaks English. But the bloody knife drawing is still funny. Poor nurse. Big props for the creativity.
She knew "tonight" and "tomorrow morning" but not "eat" "drink" or "surgery"?
Let's take a wild guess and say those words are easy to Google translate.
Load More Replies... Ok, I immediately thought of Gremlins, no food late at night, and no water or murder will happen tomorrow.
programmer would be..... if time = 22:00 to 8:00 No Food; No Water; Else Killed.
This is why one needs to know at least a second language. Also, when translating from one language into another, you really need two people, one whose native tongue is Language A and knows Language B, and vice versa. Web sites with wacky translations and misunderstandings abound.
No Rice but you can ask for something else. Sorry, no bath tonight. In the morning, a fellow named Jack will visit and show you his knife collection.
My only takeaway in this article is that the writer used "Frighting"(v) instead of "Frightening"(ajd).
I love the fact that the nurse found a red pen to make sure we knew there would be blood involved
This is the kind of passive-aggressive note I would leave somewhere, ngl.
I thought it said: Dont eat or drink because we are going to kill you at 8 AM tomorrow... Anyone wity me here?
If you eat or drink after 10pm you will become a gremlin and we will have to kill you. (I know it's really midnight)
Lol. It says do not eat or drink after 10pm. You will get surgery at 8am
Not so much funny, more meant to be soothing for the patient and "patch adamsy" /"hawkeye pierce" - nursing. As in small joke to prepare for surgery (that can be nerve wrecking as a thought.) And also because the nurse does not speak english. Maybe even because it was the end of her shift and she tried to lighten up the moment. (I don't think there s so much to "get" about Asians or PEOPLE. If it concerns ya it concerns ya. If it ain't it ain't ;)
Load More Replies...