Santiago
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Learning disabilities in espanol?
My wife is a speech and language specialist in the local school distinct. She told me of a story today that also seems to have a language disconnect.
A young boy from a Spanish speaking home was diagnosed with a learning handicap earlier this year and has been seen by a number of specialist at the
school, including my wife. He had greatly improved during the year until last week he was gong to be dismissed from all the remedial programs. This
required a meeting with the parents and when the translator told the parents that the boy no longer needed help because he had overcome his learning
disability, the father broke down and cried, from joy.
After the meeting, the translator told the teachers that there is no word in Mexican Spanish for 'Learning disability' and it is always understood to
mean 'retarded'.
Is this true?
Thanks
edit: spelling
[Edited on 5-19-2010 by Santiago]
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Tano
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I’m guessing you meant to say “word.” Then, why a word when “learning disability” is two? I’ve been hearing the word discapacidad for awhile,
but if you asked the members of the Royal Academy (Real Academia de la Lengua Española), they would probably laugh in your face, but then, you can
always translate the idea, not the words, which is actually what translating is all about. So, “learning disability” would be discapacidad
cognitiva i.e, El niño sufre de discapacidad cognitiva.
Language is composed of ideas and concepts to which people attach meanings as long as they understand each other. Slang words, for example, generally
are not found in a dictionary at first but they are understood by a group of people, and these words eventually may become part of the language
itself.
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ecomujeres
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Santiago:
My dictionary has two choices:
Discapacidad de aprendizaje
And
Deficiencia de aprendizaje
I think that these two are better terms, as they clearly separate (as we do in English) the learning disabilities (such as dyslexia, attention
deficits, etc) from the cognitive deficits (memory loss, decreased intelligence, difficulties in problem-solving, etc).
While working in the medical field, either directly with patients/clients or interpreting for doctors/therapists, the exact terms that I choose will
also reflect my audience and their level of understanding of the disability. I certainly make sure that I or the medical professional takes the time
to explain the actual problems so that they understand just what is going on. Unfortunately in the scenario you described, it seems like nobody made
sure that the parents had understood what the child’s learning disabilities actually were.
I would also consider using the term “problemas de aprendizaje” as this might be better understood by people with less understanding of
technical/medical terminology.
It’s true that there are many technical/medical terms that have no corresponding word or phrase in Spanish. That is definitely when the underlying
meaning of the term(s) one is trying to translate is important so that one doesn’t end up with a literal translation that is pure gibberish in
Spanish. So far, I’ve always been able to find a way, even if round-about, to explain a given technical term or idea.
Until the term “discapacidad” and “discapacitado” came into more general usage, at least in Latin America, the term used was “menosválido”, literally
“less valid” or our English “invalid”. This term is still used in Spain. As someone who has worked/lived with people with disabilities over the
years and who believes that the words we choose to use really do matter, I have always found the essence of that term very insulting.
You might be interested in a good online dictionary for future inquiries:
http://www.wordreference.com
It's a great place to find phrases as well as single words.
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Santiago
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After reviewing this thread with my wife she informed me that I did not explain the issue correctly in my post. She explained that they have gone
through extensive training in how to hold these meetings with non-english speaking parents and that the interpreters they use are also highly trained
in educational issues. In short, they know the words to use but the concepts of 'learning disability' and 'mental retardation' are more closely
intertwined and seem to have greater cultural shame associated with them. I'm guessing this was not a language issue but a cultural one. And maybe
it was simply one father's response to good news.
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Iflyfish
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In my career as a Clinical Social Worker consulting for 26 years to a Department of Special Education I often ran into the stigma attached to Learning
Differences. Those with different ways of processing were often seen and labeled as retarded until the second half of the 20th Century. It is
interesting to note that a recent study of sculptors found that most are what is called Dyslexic and have significant difficulty with the written word
as they tend to perceive in 3D.
My work in functional brain imaging and Neurofeedback taught me that there is a wide range in how we use our brains and our processing very much
depends upon which areas of the brain are active and used during various activities. It is not unusual to find highly active areas of the brain in the
Savant, who functions in the world in very primitive ways, but has an extraordinary capacity for a single subject like math, historical dates etc. See
Dustin Hoffman’s brilliant performance as Rainman. This is a situation where the exception proves the rule that how we process is primarily the luck
of the genetic draw and we are indeed fortunate if we can use the areas that most others do because we are subject to stigma if we don’t.
Parents of children with learning differences have feelings of loss and often question themselves over their children’s differences and often
experience feelings of guilt and shame. Society and peers are often not helpful to these folks. Children can be brutal.
I used to carry with me a portfolio of functional brain images to show to parents and sometimes the relief was palpable. I kept kleenex available at
all times.
It is wonderful when helping professionals can assist parents to understand that they did not cause these differences and best of all if these
differences can be remediated. There are lots of wonderful people in the field who are doing this very thing and we ought to more often recognize
their valuable service.
Iflyfish
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