Panama (and other Latin American) Allergy words and phrases

Saturday, August 12, 2023
10:17 AM

Our CEO and staff have a special love for Latin America, especially Panama and Costa Rica. If that applies to you as well, we've done a bit of work for family, friends and our clients to get you started.

If you are travelling, especially in a country that doesn't speak your language, you may have the need to discuss your or your family's allergies with others.

You may find it useful to copy the information we have down here, remove what doesn't apply to you, and take a printout, and a copy on your cell phone/tablet/laptop/remarkable/note paper to carry with you. If you or someone in your party is severely allergic, carry one or more copies in your passport, so you always have them ready and can pass them out.

If you have severe allergies, or even if you just want maximum peace of mind, you check these people out: https://equaleats.com/?ref=AbilityOasis (We make a 10% commission if you go with them using this link, if you want to make sure we don't get the commission, just edit the URL to exclude us! 100% of referral links go to charitable causes) They have a large number of credit card sized cards to explain your allergy or allergies to people in foreign languages.

If you are looking to travel to one of the Spanish Latin American countries [^1}, make sure you pick the correct Spanish. In most (as opposed to the Castilian/Spain Spanish.) While they may seem expensive at first glance, if you have an allergy that is going to kill you or otherwise spoil a trip for you, the extra cost isn't all that much for the piece of mind and a higher probability of a good trip.

Even if you can't speak the words - you can show the words and phrases below to people at the medical clinic or hospital, restaurant, hotel or airport.

Generally, to make sure no mistakes are made, it may be better to be 'more generic' rather than 'more specific' just as you probably run into problems with people in your country not 'getting it', but even more so when working in a language you are not fluent in. So if you are allergic to 3 different types of fish, it may be better to simply say you are allergic 'to fish'. Similarly, if you are severely, allergic to bovine milk, but goat's milk is fine, you may just say you are allergic to 'milk' (leche), and perhaps list exceptions that you can have.

To increase your enjoyment, if your restrictions are only some of a class of items, you may want to research ahead to see what you will most commonly come across, and learn either the specific items or learn the exceptions. So my favorite fish in Latin America is the "Mahi Mahi" which in Spanish is "el dorado" (the gold fish - but note that is very different from the pet fish in English called "gold fish" not even close to the same type of fish.)

In coming to this page, our assumption is you are an English speaker (or someone who knows how to describe your allergy etc.., in English) and you don't speak a lot of Spanish, so you most importantly want as simple as possible way to describe your concern while travelling.

While there are 'more polite' ways of saying some of these things, when it comes to allergies, we recommend the words below. The 'more polite' words may result in the person thinking that it is a preference and they may not take it as seriously - with no intention of malice. So while your Spanish training course might tell you the more 'polite' way to ask for something (and may not even tell you that is what they are doing), we recommend going with the more direct ways below. So said "I can not' rather than the more common beginner level courses way of saying "I'd prefer to not…" or "I'd not like…".

Note that in several training courses, they teach you these 'more polite' ways while telling you the more direct meaning. But with allergies and related - that just isn't the safe way for you to do it. So user our wording below unless you are absolutely certain you understand the words you are using instead.

• los huevos (eggs)
• la soja (soy)
• los cacahuetes (peanuts)
• Tengo alergia a los frutos secos/nueces de arbol. (I am allergic to dry fruits)
• el leche (milk)
• el marisco / los mariscos (seafood)
• el pez (fish)
• la mostaza (mustard)
• el gluten (gluten)

What if you want to say "I can’t eat something" at all, regardless of whether it is for allergy, preference, religious or other reasons? Use “no puedo comer…” (I cannot eat….). Some examples:

• No puedo comer huevos. (I can’t eat eggs.)
• No puedo comer cacahuetes. (I can’t eat peanuts.)
• No puedo beber leche. (I can’t drink milk.)
• No puedo comer mariscos. (I can’t eat seafood.) You can also ask if your allergen item was used in the making of a dish, to make sure they are thinking about the components, not just the main item:
• ¿Este plato lleva huevos? (Are there eggs in this dish?)
And if you know it has it but want it made without it:
• ¿Pueden quitar las almendras, por favor? (Can you please remove the almonds?)
• ¿Se puede comer este plato sin almendras? (Can I have this dish without the almonds?)

How to talk about respiratory allergies:
Coughing, sore, itchy red eyes, getting a fever, red eyes and difficulty breathing? Here are the most common breathing allergies to discuss with the pharmacist farmacéutica (female) farmacéutico (male) or doctor: doctor (male) doctora or (female) or physician: médico (male) médica (female)

• los gatos (cats) – la alergia a los gatos (cat allergy) while yes you may have learned that female cats are gatas, when it comes to allergies you are talking about cats generically, and in Spanish, when talking about males and females or unknown, you use the male or masculine term. Basically, like English a back in the 1900's, there was a general term (often called the masculine which gave the wrong impression of being 'male') and a female term.

Animals:
• los perros (dogs) – la alergia a los perros (dog allergy)
• las mascotas (pets) – la alergia a las mascotas (pet allergy)
• la lana (wool) – la alergia a la lana (wool allergy)

Stings:
• las abejas (bees) – la alergia a las picaduras de abeja (allergy to bee stings)
• las avispas (wasps) – la alergia a las picaduras de avispa (allergy to wasp bites)

Air born:
• el polvo (dust) – la alergia al polvo (dust allergy)
• el moho (mould) – la alergia al moho (mould allergy)
• el polen (pollen) – la alergia al polen (pollen allergy)

A couple common allergies when getting medical treatment
• el látex (latex) – la alergia al látex (latex allergy)
• la penicilina (penicillin) – la alergia a la penicilina (penicillin allergy)

To simply say you’re allergic to something, especially if it isn't in the above lists: Just to say “Soy alérgico(a)…”, using the letter “o” if you are a male and the letter “a” if you are a female. In Spanish this is a biological distinction, not a personal preference. Then, you follow that up with “al/ a la/ a los/ a las”, depending on the allergen you’re talking listing.

• Soy alérgica a la soja. (I’m allergic to soy.) (female, singular noun)
• Soy alérgico a la soja. (I’m allergic to soy.) (male, singular noun)
• Soy alérgico al polen. (I’m allergic to pollen.) (male, singular noun)
• Soy alérgica al polen. (I’m allergic to pollen.) (female, singular noun)
• Soy alérgico a las mascotas. (I’m allergic to pets.) (female, plural noun)
• Soy alérgico a los perros. (I’m allergic to dogs.) (male, plural noun)

[^1] Did you know that Canada is a Latin American country, although some stuck up academics exclude it from the list? It is included by others because the large percentage of the population that speaks French as their first/native, and (Stat's can 2016) almost 21% speak French it as their first or native language while 57% are native/1st language English and the remaining 22% start out with one of 100's of other languages. While most 'Latin American' countries speak Spanish, Brazil speaks Brazilian Portuguese, Canada and French Guiana speak each their own unique form of French and Argentina speaks Castilian Spanish, aka Castilian. Belize on the other hand is a Central American and Caribbean nation, but it is English and therefore not always included in the Latin American list, even though English has perhaps about 1/3rd of its words of Latin origin. Some people include the USA in the list of Latin American countries because of the large number of native/1st language Spanish, others exclude it because while a lot of people speak Spanish, English is the only official language so 'officially' it isn't Latin American. And then you have all the other languages that are predominant in different areas including indigenous languages which are arguably unfairly ignored in most discussions, and many European languages that have their pockets where everyone in the area speaks that language as their native language.