A local doctor is finding success in communicating vaccine information with his patients in Low German.

Wilf Kaethler, a doctor at the Steinbach Family Medical Centre, has been practicing medicine full-time in Steinbach since 1995 and can speak with his patients in English, Spanish, German and Low German.

“I grew up in my household speaking High German. This was in Paraguay where I was born and grew up and then I learned l Low German from my friends and later on Spanish in school and all my university there was in Spanish.”

Dr. Kaethler has also picked up some important phrases in Portuguese, French and South American indigenous languages.

He has found that communicating with patients in their own language has helped them make better-informed decisions about the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Some of my patients call me here at the clinic, some in English and some in Low German, and ask me what can I tell them about the COVID vaccination. And usually, then say they will get vaccinates as well.”

 

Low German, or Plautdietsch, is predominately spoken by Russian Mennonites. The word Plautdietsch translates to "flat (or low) German". The language was taken by Mennonite settlers to the southwest of the Russian Empire starting in 1789. From there it evolved and subsequent waves of migration brought it to North America, starting in 1873.

Information in Low German from trustworthy sources has not been as widely spread during the pandemic. With easy access to social media videos, Dr. Kaethler explains that many Low German-speaking people are finding misinformation on the internet.

“Much information is gathered from the internet. People can often get it in their own language, but it would be difficult to get good information, say in Low German or in any of the indigenous languages. I think it has been difficult to kind of wade through all the different information that there is.”