MEDICAL CHINESE
I compiled this website and the associated pamphlets after finding few resources to help healthcare professionals seeking to learn medical Chinese. The purpose of the website and pamphlets is to help the medical interviewer learn to conduct a simple but thorough history and physical examination in Chinese. This compilation includes a combination of words, simple phrases, and intermediate-level-sentences, arranged under sections for taking a medical history and for physical examination, as well as a glossary of body parts/organs and common diseases. Some knowledge of basic Chinese is helpful.
Translations with Chinese characters and romanization have been provided in Mandarin (using Hanyu Pinyin), as well as Cantonese (using Yale Romanization). Spoken Mandarin corresponds to written Chinese, and both traditional and simplified characters have been included. Spoken Cantonese, however, is very different from written Chinese, with many colloquial terms seldomly used in written Chinese. The vernacular Cantonese characters have been included (using traditional characters) to aid in learning. A brief guide to romanization has been included; for more detailed explanations on the Chinese language and on romanization, please refer to other websites.
The personal/social history and physical exam section is not yet completed in Cantonese.
The contents of this website are also available in pamphlets, with separate versions for Mandarin simplified, Mandarin traditional, and Cantonese.
Translations have been done with patient conversation in mind. The website and pamphlets are not meant to provide translation of technical medical terminology.
If you should find any
inaccuracies, please contact me at medicalchinese@gmail.com.
I am also considering adding audio to aid in learning. If you would find
this useful, please let me know.
If you have problems seeing the Chinese characters on this site, make sure that you have East Asian languages installed on your computer. Go to Control Panel->Regional and Language Options->Languages and click on “Install Files for East Asian languages.” Alternatively, through your webrowser go to View->Encoding, choose Chinese Simplified/Chinese Traditional/Unicode, and the proper language files should be installed.
I hope that you will find the website and pamphlets useful in helping your Chinese patients who speak little or no English.
Amy C. Lee
Copyright ©2005
DISCLAIMER:
We assume no responsibility or liability for any inaccuracies or miscommunication resulting from the use of this website or the associated pamphlets. The website and pamphlets were created as a reference, and cannot and should not be substituted for a skilled interpreter.
MIT is not involved in this project in any way.
Acknowledgements:
The creation of the website and pamphlets would not have been possible without the help of Alice S. Lee, who aided in translation, and John Greenland, who aided with the website.