Athnova CareAthnova Care now speaks 21 languages, including German, Italian, Turkish and Romanian
Four more parent languages went live on 13 October, with home-page editions in each. Why those four, and what “speaks” means when the parent writes back in their own words.
By Ravi Tiwari, Founder, Athnova Care ·
The four new languages
German, Italian, Turkish and Romanian: the daily check-in, its buttons, the reminder, the phone call and every alert now exist in each, and the home page has an edition in each (/de/, /it/, /tr/, /ro/). They join ten Indian languages, Urdu, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, French, Filipino and Indonesian.
Why these
Because the people who asked were not Indian. Romanians in Italy, Spain and the UK; Turks in Germany and the Netherlands; Italians and Germans whose children moved to London, Zurich or Toronto. Same problem as ours — a parent alone, a child far away, a phone that goes unanswered — different alphabet.
What “speaks” means
A language is not a translated template. The service has to understand a parent who ignores the buttons and types “le li”, “ya las tomé”, “hasta mañana” or “iyiyim” — and not confuse the Spanish “hasta” with the Turkish “hasta” (sick). Each new language ships with its own list of everyday replies and danger words, tested against the traps we found in the others. Urdu calls, for example, use the Hindi voice because the spoken language is close and the voice is better.
What it is not
Not a reason to add every language on earth. A language goes in when a family asks and we can get its everyday replies right. Odia and Assamese are the ones Indian families ask for next.
Read next
Athnova Care tracks and coordinates care. It does not diagnose, prescribe or replace a doctor. In a medical emergency call the local emergency number.