The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-12-07
THE ARRIVING ALIEN.
Generally Fatigued by Voyage and I'm
der Great Excitement.

IrlgapCd IN TIE lneulcNl cAuihlnhtlOha VI
lauiymg aliens are confronted constant
~ with difficulties IN making their d.
agnoses OF physical and mental condi'
tions, which seldom obtain In any other
line Of medical work, these difficulties
being dependent upon the various ma
tionalities of the aliens and the Ian
guages and dialects spoken by them. The
following is list OF the nationalities
OF the immigrants daily arriving at our
shores.
Africans. Armenians, Bohemians, Mo.
rayiaus, Bulgarians, Servians, Montene'
lgrins, Chinese, Croatians, Slavonians, Gu
bans, Dalmatans, Bosnians, Dutch,
Flemish, East Indians English Finnish,
French, Germans, Greeks, Hebrews,
Northern and Southern Italians, Japa-
ncsese, Lithuanians, Magyars, Mexicans,
Poles, Portuguese, Romanians, Russians,
Ruthenians, Scandina VANS, which com.
prise Norweigians, Danes and Swedens,)
Scotch, Slovaks, Spanish, Spanish Amer
leans, Syrians, Turks, and West Indians.
The ma jority of us are apt to consider
ourselves linguist when we are able to
say ia" and in travelling in Europe,
tho American can get along very well
with that one word in his vocabulary 1t
will pass in nearly all countries and the
majority of things he is asked to do by
guides and the places to which he is
asked to go call for an answer with the
use of that one word. In addition to this
the one idea of the guide in foreign coun-
tries is to separate the American from
his money, and the American in foreign
countries is waiting to have this opera
tion performed, so that the use of the
happy word ''ja" is satisfactory and sui
fcicnt to all persons concerned
This, however, is not the case at our
immigration stations. The immigrants
do not want to be separated from their
money, and they do want to get into the
United States. Sometimes their inabil-
ity to understand the efforts of the medi |
cal officers in using their language must |
be met by one OF two recourses. Either |
the medical officers of the public health |
service must study number of Ian
guages, or else the government must sup |
ply these officers with interpreters 1t |
has been found that to facilitate the |
passage of immigrants and to make GER
tain of the answers given to the ques-
tions asked by the doctors interpreters
in the above mentioned languages must
be provided. These interpreters, while
they are not medical men, soon become
familiar with the methods of medical
examination and are of very great as
sistance in expediting the medical work
and in quieting the fears Of many of the
as to the intent of the neces-
sary medical examination.
The average immigrant arriving at
United States port is not only fatigued
from the voyage, but he is usually I'M
der great excitement, and on account of
A natural caution to say little through
fear OF spelling his chances of entering
the United States, he is frequently 81.
ent on points which the medical Off
Ter and the interpreter are trying to .
BRING out in connection with his condi-
ion, which would be OF advantage to
lin if he only knew it. On this account
lot an inconsiderable part of the task
II examining immigrants is that con-
lected with winning their confidence
trough the use of interpreters, and ex-
blaming to them in their own language
ust what the doctor is trying to find :
nut, and Just why il is TO his interest
hat the doctor should be put in posses !,
ion OF all facts in connection with him !
nd his family Therefore an interpreter
ttached TO the medical staff OF the pub
&c health service must be somewhat YER
atile, in that he must not only be famil-
ar with the intent of the questions
which the doctor is asking in English. i
mt he must be q student of human ma -
ure, able to impress immigrants favor
bly, and win their confidence through
generous and kindly disposition and
e able TO understand the peculiar men
al slant of the different races
1t is remarkable the number OF Ian
uages some OF the interpreters are able
0 speak II is usually found that a II
lavic interpreter will not only speak
ussian and Slavic dialects. but as a r
latter of course he frequently seems
BILE TO speak French, German, Italian
nd Spanish in addition TO English.
To illustrate the meaning of the term
iialect" man from one of the South
N states. for example. when he wants
, say where are you goIng" will vert y
kelly say "Whar's yo gwinefn south
n man would probably recognize the
tier phraze anywhere he happened to
ar il. but il is unlikely that the aver.
ye western and northern man would
cognize il, unless be had read il ia
me Of the books on southern lore -
In a number Of countries Of Europe
iere are number Of expressions which
le can compare with the example Civ. q,
above, which differ in the course Of
great distance. A large number OF
ese differences in expression practi-
lly constitute a different language. but du
account Of the fact that al Of these eN
neuapes are based on one main or LEI
other language. the various differences d,