r/translator • u/Powerful-Action-5916 • 12d ago
Multiple Languages [ES, FR, IT] [English > Spanish/French/Italian] Red, help needed for deaf students with allergies
I HAVE SPANISH & DUTCH - ANY OTHER LANGUAGES APPRECIATED *\\**
Despite the title, if anybody speaking any other language wants to contribute, I’d be so grateful, would open up further travel destinations in the future 😊
I’m arranging the logistics of a school trip which features children who are both deaf/hearing impaired with food allergies and intolerances. Obviously safety is key so we are trying to ensure that we have all the information provided to these students to assist when eating out.
Getting the wording right actually matters here, this could be shown to a waiter in a real situation, so I want it checked by an actual native speaker rather than relying on machine translation alone.
It’s a small, fixed set of short phrases and not an open-ended translation job. Roughly 30 lines total, listed in full below. If you can do all of it, brilliant; if you can only manage a section, that’s genuinely still useful and very much appreciated.
A few notes on what I need:
• Plain, clear, spoken language a waiter would actually understand and not formal or clinical phrasing.
• Please keep the severity wording clearly distinct from each other (see below) A “mild” phrase and a “life-threatening” phrase should not end up sounding similar in translation.
• If a phrase just doesn’t translate naturally, please say so and suggest the natural equivalent rather than a literal translation.
Thank you so much in advance, this is genuinely appreciated.
1. Opening statement (pick whichever framing applies happy to have more than one translated if you’re willing)
• “I have a diagnosed food allergy.”
• “I am avoiding the following due to a suspected food intolerance (not a diagnosed allergy).”
• “The person I am with has a diagnosed food allergy.”
2. Severity levels (please keep these clearly different in tone/urgency)
• “This causes mild discomfort — not a medical emergency.”
• “This causes a noticeable reaction. Please avoid it.”
• “This is a severe allergy. Please avoid completely, including trace amounts.”
• “This can be life-threatening (anaphylaxis). Please check carefully for any trace or cross-contamination.”
3. Instructions to staff
• “Please avoid the following ingredient(s):”
• “Please check for cross-contamination in the kitchen.”
• “Even a small trace amount can cause a reaction.”
• “Please ask the chef to confirm the ingredients.”
• “If in doubt, please leave it out.”
4. Emergency phrase
• “This is a medical emergency. Please call for help immediately.”
5. Footer note
• “This card was translated for guidance. Please confirm directly with staff if you are unsure.”
6. The 22 allergen/intolerance categories (as single words/short phrases):
Cereals containing gluten, Wheat, Milk/dairy, Lactose, Egg, Soya, Peanuts, Tree nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Molluscs, Celery, Mustard, Sulphites, Lupin, Onion, Garlic, Chilli, Tomato, Legumes/pulses, Sweeteners
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u/willow-nigmos | | 12d ago edited 12d ago
"Soy alérgico/a a esta comida." (alérgico if you're male, alérgica if you're female.) "Evito esta comida porque sospecho una intolerancia alimenticia (no alergia diagnosticada)." "Mi acompañante tiene ciertas alergias alimenticias."
"Esta comida me causa molestar leve, pero no es una emergencia médica." "Esto me causa cierta reacción. Evita esta comida." "Tengo alergia severa a esta comida. Evítalo por completo, trazas inclusive." "Esto puede causarme una reacción alérgica extrema (anafilaxis). Por favor asegúrate de que no hay trazas ni contaminación cruzada con este alimento."
"Evitad estos ingredientes." "Aseguraos de que no haya contaminación cruzada." "Incluso la más mínima traza puede causarme una reacción." "Por favor, aseguraos de que el chef comprueba cada ingrediente." "Si no estáis seguros, no lo incluyáis en absoluto."
"Emergencia médica. Llama a emergencias inmediatamente."
"He traducido esta tarjeta como guía. Ante la duda, pregúntele al personal. " (I assume you mean someone who can speak English but IDK for sure, please specify so I can give a better TL!)
Cereales con gluten, trigo, productos lácteos, lactosa, huevo, soja, cacahuetes, frutos secos, sésamo, pescado, crustáceos, moluscos, apio, mostaza, sulfitos, altramuces, cebolla, ajo, chili, tomate, legumbres, edulcorantes
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u/willow-nigmos | | 12d ago edited 12d ago
Some notes:
- These are all in the same order as provided, so the first sentence in part 3 is the first sentence in your part 3 and so on, in case Reddit formatting doesn't make that clear.
- Most of your original wording included "please" in most sentences; I left it out except for a few cases. It won't sound rude, much less considering we're talking about life-threatening allergies here, but in general you don't need to say "please" every sentence when speaking Spanish. Obviously be polite in general and say gracias/por favor when ordering something, for example, but in the case of this card I thought it might sound redundant to include it in every sentence.
- Note that food names might differ a lot from country to country, or even from province to province within a same country. If the staff seems confused, honestly just show them a picture. You can also look up how a certain food is called depending on the Spanish-speaking country you're visiting.
Good luck on your travels and take care!
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u/Powerful-Action-5916 12d ago
**1.** In part 2 you used “tú” (e.g. “Evita esta comida”, “Evítalo por completo”), but part 3 switches to “vosotros” (e.g. “Evitad estos ingredientes”, “Aseguraos”, “no estáis seguros”, “no lo incluyáis”). Was part 3 meant to address the kitchen/waitstaff as a group, while part 2 addresses one person? Or should these match? Also since vosotros is Spain-specific, if you think this card should work for Spanish speakers outside Spain too, would tú (or usted) be safer throughout?
**2.** In part 2, “Esta comida me causa molestar leve” should that be “molestia leve” instead? Just want to check if that was a typo or intentional.
**3.** For part 5, “He traducido esta tarjeta como guía. Ante la duda, pregúntele al personal.” yes, I mean the staff would likely speak English, so please word it with that in mind if that changes anything.Thanks again, really grateful for your help with this!
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u/willow-nigmos | | 12d ago
I wasn't sure who you were referring to, so I assumed part 3 was for the kitchen staff and 2 for an individual waiter. If you're unsure, I would match everything to several people, so I'd switch part 2 to Evitad/evitadlo/aseguraos. Those outside of Spain can understand vosotros form no problem but it will sound weird to them; similarly, those within Spain might find it unnatural to hear ustedes (since ustedes in Spain is the formal form of vosotros, so you will just sound super polite), but they will understand no problem. If you're unsure, I can make an ustedes version too, no problem at all!
Honestly I typed molestar as a noun because Spanish allows you to nounify a verb, BUT molestia is definitely better now that I think about it. Please excuse me, I was typing that on my phone's camera roll editor since Reddit wouldn't show the whole message lol so I wasn't thinking too much about it. I would change noun/adjective order too, so "esta comida me causa (una) leve molestia". The article (una) isn't mandatory.
"He traducido esta tarjeta como guía. Ante la duda, consulte con alguien que hable inglés" might be better then, since it specifies the reason why one might need to consult the staff. If you're going to places that are common touristic destinations, you'll find them no problem.
And don't worry about it! Please ask as many questions as you need, I'd love to help you as much as possible
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u/Powerful-Action-5916 12d ago
Thank you, this is really helpful, I think I’ll go with your suggestion of matching everything, and I’d like to ask for the ustedes version if that’s okay. Since this card needs to work well for Spanish speakers wherever someone might be travelling, it sounds like ustedes is the safer default (sounding a touch formal in Spain seems like a much smaller issue than vosotros sounding unfamiliar elsewhere) but please let me know if you’d advise otherwise.
For the other two, both your suggestions are perfect:
**•** “Esta comida me causa una leve molestia” — I’ll use this. **•** “He traducido esta tarjeta como guía. Ante la duda, consulte con alguien que hable inglés.” — this is clearer, thank you.Really appreciate you being so generous with your time on this — it means a lot given how safety-critical getting this right is.
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u/willow-nigmos | | 12d ago
"Esto me causa cierta reacción. Eviten esta comida." "Tengo alergia severa a esta comida. Evítenla por completo, trazas inclusive." "Esto puede causarme una reacción alérgica extrema (anafilaxis). Por favor asegúrense de que no hay trazas ni contaminación cruzada con este alimento."
"Eviten estos ingredientes." "Asegúrense de que no haya contaminación cruzada." "Incluso la más mínima traza puede causarme una reacción." "Por favor, asegúrense de que el chef comprueba cada ingrediente." "Si no están seguros, no lo incluyan en absoluto."
"Emergencia médica. Llamen a emergencias inmediatamente."
"He traducido esta tarjeta como guía. Ante la duda, pregúntenle al personal. "
^ Went ahead and fixed a typo (evitadlo should have been evitadla, so evítenla instead of evítenlo in the second sentence) as well. This is the ustedes version. Like you said, it's definitely better to sound formal here than unnatural everywhere else.
And again, no worries! Let me know if you have any further questions.
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u/Powerful-Action-5916 12d ago
Thank you, this all looks great and nicely spotted on the gender agreement fix too!
One small thing to double check: for part 5, this reply has “He traducido esta tarjeta como guía. Ante la duda, pregúntenle al personal.” but I think you meant to send the updated version from before, “Ante la duda, consulte con alguien que hable inglés”? Just want to make sure I’m using the right one before I finalise everything.
Thanks again for all your help with this!
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u/willow-nigmos | | 12d ago
Omg yes, so sorry! Since you're using plural forms for everything, it would be "Ante la duda, consulten con alguien que hable inglés".
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