You already speak some English (I can tell as you are reading this blog!) but you want to build on your general English knowledge for a healthcare setting, that’s great! However, you are likely having the same thoughts as me when I began this blog “where on earth do I start?!”
Words, words, words!
Medical vocabulary is made up of a vast pool of words. Many sources say that a medical student learns around 15,000 new words during medical school. That’s the same number of words you need to be fluent in a second language; learning medical English is the equivalent number of words as learning general English all over again! That can be a very scary thought, however there is hope! It is likely you know a lot of these words already if you have worked in a healthcare environment. English is an international language so many words are likely to be similar to your own language. For example “aspirin” is the same word in many countries! Medical terms also often come from Greek and Latin, so words are often similar in different languages.
Technicalities
Another saving grace is that you don’t really need to know all the technical medical words to work in healthcare. In day-to-day practice many practitioners will use more simple words to describe what they mean. For example, “trendelenburg” is the word for when the patient is tilted on a table with their head down. However, most surgeons (in the UK) will use the phrase “head down”, so if you forget the correct technical term it doesn’t really matter!
Thinking about why?
When thinking about not needing to know everything you should think about what it is you need to know. What are your goals and motivations for learning medical English? Are you learning so you can understand medical journal articles in your speciality? Are you a nurse looking to work in an English speaking country? Depending on your goals you will need to learn very different skills (e.g. reading vs speaking). Focusing your learning on what you will actually use is more efficient and it will help you feel more motivated. Think about what end goals you want to achieve by learning medical English.
Thinking about how?
Once you have thought about your goals it is easier to map out how you plan on reaching them. Will you use purely online resources or will you organise some face to face teaching? If your goal is to speak with patients it will be very difficult to get there by purely reading! A good first step would be to subscribe to this blog! I will be posting lots of ideas for English learning and links to lots of resources you might find helpful. Like you I am just starting, but I aim to make this website grow into a great place for healthcare students and professionals who are learning English!