Angela Cooke
Russian For Travellers: In The Doctor's Surgery
(Answer the doctor as clearly as you can)
‘Good morning, young lady/young man. What is the
trouble?
Where does it hurt?
Please remove your dress/trousers/underpants. I will
give you an injection.
Are you allergic to any of the following: Mushrooms
Chocolate Insulin Penicillin?’
‘Good morning, doctor. I feel ill.
I have an abscess/rash/chill. I have a stiff
neck/cramps/hernia.
I have sunstroke/morning sickness.
I am constipated.’
‘Is this the first time you have had this/these
conditions?
I will give you another injection. I will need a
specimen of your urine.
It is nothing to worry about.
‘Doctor, I am diabetic. I have a heart complaint.
I am allergic to all those things which you previously
mentioned.
I cannot move my elbow/knee/right clavical.
I am expecting a baby. Can I travel?’
‘You have had a slight/fairly severe heart attack.
In the Soviet Union we do not use the particular
medicine which in England
was prescribed for you, but this is very similar.
When is the baby due? No, you cannot travel.’
‘Doctor, I am in a nervous state.
I feel depressed.
I cannot eat/sleep. I am having nightmares.
Could you prescribe sedative/sleeping pills/anti-
depressant?’
‘Young lady/young man, please do not panic.
You are suffering from nervous tension.
It is nothing to worry about.
Take half teaspoonsful of this every hour/three times
a day/
before/after each meal
and in the morning/evening.’
‘Thank you, doctor. Good morning.’
‘Good morning, young lady/young man.
Sydovolstviem!’
(‘It has been my pleasure’)
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The