Have tried an interpreter by 'phone, it is weird. You say into the 'phone "Please tell her I would like to take her blood pressure", then you pass the 'phone to the patient,etc,etc I remember me and a fellow practice nurse trying to communicate with a Romanian family in French ( sort of). "Have you got a family history of diabetes?" came out something like "Has your Granny got sugar in her wee?" Computer translating "out of sight, out of mind" = invisble imbecile A patient gave me a bit of paper with "well oiled beef hooked" on it . Try saying it with an Irish accent..... That's what's good about my job, you get to know people well and they can have a laugh if they want to Went on a school trip to France to stay with a French family. Problem was, I didn't speak French and they didn't speak English. The Mum managed to tell me how she cured her son of nail biting.She mimed cutting her fingernails and giving them to him on a plate. Whilst there I found out from a fellow pupil that , when asked if you would like some more food ,you should not say ,"Non, merci, je suis plein" for "No thanks, I'm full up ", as it means "No thanks I'm pregnant'. (We were about 14 at the time and it was the sixties when unmarried mums could be incarcerated in mental hospitals.) Nowadays the reply might be,"oh is that your first baby?" Oops, showing my age!