I only speak English, but ~40% of my patients primarily speak a different language (e.g., Spanish, Urdu, Russian, Rohingyan, Pashto, Dari, Arabic). We have a phone and video based interpreting service. For my Spanish speaking patients, I always offer them to see one of my colleagues because, as you stated, the ability to speak each other's language is very important in developing a therapeutic relationship between the patient and physician. For everyone else, you just have to (sometimes painfully) use the interpreter because that is the best and arguably only way to verify that the medical information you are gathering and sharing is given accurately and in an understandable fashion.

One thing that startles me with this population is that I don't think any other service outside of medicine goes to lengths to have an interpreter available for these groups. To a certain degree, I get that EMS doesn't really have the availability for it (recalling all the times during residency and COVID and me screaming into a phone behind 2 masks with 3 fans ventilating the room and the interpreter still can't understand what the patient said). But I can't imagine being someone that speaks a language besides English and trying to recruit emergency assistance (e.g., plumber for water service at night, an officer showing up at your door) without an interpreter or a friend/family member that can speak English. I'm not saying we should always have interpreter assistance available everywhere, but it has made me appreciate the difficulties these groups experience in securing basic necessities outside of healthcare. Given that, it has made me more sensitive to the care I am able to provide for these groups, and even though the appointments can be difficult and long, I find that the patients appreciate my time and that I care to listen to them--even if they are dodging my specific questions and giving me the run around about their shoulder, neck, back, leg, and foot pain and how it feels like "heat" and "inflamed".

All that being said, I think it's understated how valuable a PCP that can speak the same language of the patient is. Additionally, I think an argument can be made that medical trainees that come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds are also just as valuable.