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[Do Scandinavian physicians understand each other's languages?].

P Gulbrandsen¹, T V Schroeder, J Milerad

¹pal.gulbrandsen@legeforeningen.no

Tidsskrift for Den Norske Laegeforening : Tidsskrift for Praktisk Medicin, Ny Raekke

|March 6, 2002

Summary

Scandinavian doctors’ language comprehension varies, with Swedes struggling with Danish and Norwegian. This may lead to increased reliance on English for medical communication in the region.

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Area of Science:

Medical communication
Linguistic barriers in healthcare
Scandinavian medical literature

Context:

Nordic countries' medical journals publish in native languages.
English is the dominant language in international medical publishing.
Assessing language proficiency among Scandinavian general practitioners is crucial.

Purpose:

To evaluate the self-assessed understanding of Scandinavian languages and English among Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish general practitioners.
To identify potential linguistic barriers affecting inter-Scandinavian medical communication.

Summary:

A questionnaire assessed 111 doctors' (36 Norwegian, 32 Danish, 43 Swedish) subjective understanding of Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and English.
Norwegian doctors understood Danish better than Swedish or English.

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Swedish doctors understood English best, followed by Norwegian, then Danish.

Danish doctors perceived no significant difference in understanding foreign languages.

Impact:

Incomplete understanding of Danish and Norwegian by Swedish doctors poses a risk to seamless inter-Scandinavian medical communication.
Future medical discourse among these nations may increasingly shift to English.
Highlights the need for strategies to maintain and improve cross-border medical understanding.