Week 3 # 2 -Language barrier

Today i had a challenging situation with a patient.
He was an Italian man, that didn't understand much english, admitted with and infective exacerbation of COPD. Physios were referred to him to complete a 6mwt with and without oxygen to see if he may need home oxygen. I was to explain the test to him and do it with him. I read out the protocol that must be read out to each patient, execpt I kept it very basic and simple, knowing about his limited english. I asked him if he understood and had any question, which he responded that he understood. So we began the test.
We took the baseline assessment and he gave a RPE score of 4 which is common for people with COPD. We began the walking and at the first minute i asked him to give a number to equal his breathlessness, and he just moved his finger around and said 'I'll just choose this one.' which was 7, and i could tell that he didnt understand the numbering system as he was able to communicate (even though told not to) and his RR was staying at 18/minute. On the sheet he used to see what number corresponds to how breathless they felt, instead of asking for a number i asked him to point to a word, (slight, mod, severe). But with this he was still pointing at numbers.
I began to feel very frustrated, cause no matter how i tried to reword the concept, he just wasnt understanding it. I could tell he was also frustrated cause at the next minute my supervisor tried to get it out of him and he just said 'I dont understand!' At that point my supervisor decided it was best if we just left the RPE out of the assessment. This then jepordises the measurement as the RPE gives the evaluator an insight into how the pt feels they are coping with their exertion compared to how their body is reacting, ie. RR, SaO2, HR.
Considering how frustrating the situation was, i believe i stayed calm and tried my best at trying different ways to explain the RPE to the patient.
If i was to be in that situation again, I probably wouldn't mention the numbers for scaling of the RPE and get then to chose a word and then i would see what number it equates to.