The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact across the globe and people from all nationalities are coming to terms with it. Now that the COVID-19 vaccine is available and being rolled out in many countries around the world, you may have wondered how to talk about vaccinations in foreign languages. The team at PLS are a multilingual bunch, and we share our knowledge below.
Talking about vaccinations
In the below tables we outline vocabulary necessary for talking about getting a vaccination in some of our most-taught languages. You may notice some similarities between the languages in the latin family tree. We also outline some useful vocabulary used by news outlets and in government guidance about vaccination programme roll-outs.
ENGLISH | GERMAN | PORTUGUESE (Br.) | FRENCH | ITALIAN |
to vaccinate | impfen | vacinar | vacciner | vaccinare |
to vaccinate somebody against COVID | jemanden impfen gegen COVID | vacinar alguém contra a COVID-19 |
vacciner quelqu’un contre la COVID |
vaccinare qualcuno contro il COVID |
vaccine | der Impfstoff | a vacina | le vaccin | il vaccino |
vaccination | die Impfung | a vacinação | la vaccination | la vaccinazione |
injection | die Spritze | a injeção | l’injection | l'iniezione |
be/get vaccinated | sich impfen lassen | ser vacinado/a | se faire vacciner | vaccinarsi |
ENGLISH | GERMAN | PORTUGUESE (Br.) | FRENCH | ITALIAN |
first dose | erste Dosis | a primeira dose | la première dose | prima dose |
second dose | zweite Dosis | a segunda dose | la deuxième dose | seconda dose |
research | Forschung | a pesquisa | la recherche | la ricerca |
studies | Forschungen | estudos | les études | gli studi |
risks | Risiken | os riscos | les risques | i rischi |
benefits | Vorteile | os benefícios | les bienfaits | i benefici |
Talking about side effects
Below you'll find vocabularly required to talk about the side effects which can arise from vaccinations. If you are interested in learning the pronunciation of these words, we recommend online dictionaries such as dict.Leo (German), dict.cc (all languages), linguee (all languages) or the Collins dictionary series (all languages). If you are an intermediate or advanced speaker, why not try listening to news articles in your target language?
ENGLISH | GERMAN | PORTUGUESE (Br.) | FRENCH | ITALIAN |
side effects | Nebenwirkungen | efeitos colaterais | les effets secondaires | postumi |
redness | Rötung | vermelhidão | les rougeurs | arrossamento |
inflammation | Entzündung | inflamação | l’inflammation | infiammazione |
swelling | Schwellung | inchaço | gonflement | gonfiore |
muscle aches | Muskelschmerzen | dores musculares | les douleurs musculaires | dolori muscolari |
fatigue | Ermüdung | fatiga / cansaço | la fatigue | fatica |
fever | Fieber | febre | la fièvre | febbre |
headache | Kopfschmerz | dor de cabeça | le mal de tête | mal di testa |
nausea | Übelkeit | náusea | la nausée | nausea |
chills | Schüttelfrost | calafrios | les frissons | brividi |
joint pain | Gelenkschmerz | dores nas articulações | les douleurs articulaires | dolori articolari |
And some bonus phrases...
Brazilian Portuguese
to make an appointment to receive the vaccine = fazer agendamento para receber a vacina
herd immunity = a imunidade de rebanho
priority groups = grupos prioritários
risk group = grupo de risco
German
vaccination against Covid = die Corona-Impfung, die Impfung gegen das Coronavirus
mandatory vaccination = die Impfpflicht (Germans love consonants!)
to develop/test/approve a vaccine = einen Impfstoff entwickeln/testen/zulassen
immune reaction = die Immunabwehrreaktion (pl. -en)
vaccine dose = die Impfdose (pl. -n)
vaccination centre = das Impfzentrum (pl. -zentren)
Have you had your vaccination yet? = Sind Sie schon geimpft? Haben Sie sich schon impfen lassen? Bist du schon geimpft? Hast du dich schon impfen lassen?
If you enjoyed this article have a look at our article on social distancing in foreign languages.
PLS are a language training provider based in London who are currently providing online lessons to a variety of corporate and government clients. Get in touch today to discover how we can help you or your colleagues reach your language learning goals.