During class, we discussed that many of the barriers between the Western doctors and Eastern culture in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down can easily be broken with translators and cultural negotiators. However, I have to wonder how much translators can help when discussing medicine. For example, "[the Hmong] don't have a word for pancreas. They don't have an idea for pancreas." With a problem like this, how can even a translator communicate information about the pancreas? The translator, of course, can just point and ask if the Hmong patient is feeling pain in the area, but can a doctor not do the same, even without the translator (in other words, practice veterinary medicine)?
The novel reaches out to a greater problem in the medical field: the language of medicine. As I recall watching Indian television shows at home, I am always fascinated by the sudden language changes involved when a hospital comes into play. Anytime a patient communicates with a doctor or nurse, the medical professional always responds in English. As I would watch, I would wonder if the producers of the show had considered the idea that much of the audience cannot understand English, and therefore, is watching the show. I asked my mom (who is a doctor) about this language change and why it occurs, and she explained to me that medicine is an English language. I think about this all the time now, and although I can't find a definite answer that English is the official language of medicine, I have found support for this argument. In an issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association dated 2000, an article appears that was published a full 100 years before, in 1900, in a special section. In the article, the author states,
English is coming more and more to the front. The recognition by Germany that it is the coming international tongue is an important step, in which, however, it has been anticipated in some degree by one or two Hollandish societies that have for some time printed their transactions in English. . . . It is the present language of the future and there is no reason why it should not be the international language of medicine and science wherever and whenever such a language is required.
This article from over 100 years ago states that English should be the "international language of medicine." This is a great idea...universalizing the language of medicine. Doing so will only make communication in the medical community much more seamless. However, what happens when we encounter someone like the Hmongs? What do we do when a basic anatomical part, the pancreas, is nameless in another culture or language? Is there any solution? Is universalizing the medical language actually a good thing? Only time can answer some of these questions, but I'm afraid that time will give us the answers we don't want. I don't think translators are going to be enough to communicate medicine to people who don't speak or understand English. There are always going to be words (even outside of medicine) that can't translate between languages. Will this be a problem?
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/284/23/2977
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2 comments:
This is a really interesting post, and, as much as we discussed the role of translators in class, I don't think anyone mentioned these points. What do we do about the translation barrier when the hmongs, for example, don't even have a word for pancreas. I am as dumbfounded as you-- there seems to be no answer to this question.
The ideal of a universal language for medicine, is interesting. But if we go so far as to have a universal language for one field, why would we stop with just one field? The idea of preserving cultural identity here is huge, exemplified by the millions of people who for centuries have refused to give up their language, part of their cultural identity, so that everyone in the world can communicate with one another. Certainly it would make things easier, but wouldn't it also prevent us from remembering our histories and our ancestors? It's certainly a tough decision.
The language of medicine and biological sciences is so highly specialized that sometimes it’s difficult to explain certain concepts to people who speak English, let alone those who prefer a different language. Some of the troubles in communication between patient and doctor probably arise not just from the language barrier but from the use of technical explanations that would confound even an English-speaking patient.
My grandma in India is diabetic, and I doubt that a doctor’s explanation about beta-cells in the pancreas or increased insulin resistance would really make much of a difference in how she views the disease or the treatment, even if it were explained perfectly in her native language. What is more helpful is when the doctor explains the disease in a context or manner that she can understand, such as the idea of “sugar-sickness.” The barrier with the Hmong is similar—it’s not just the language, but also educational and cultural. The way to overcome the latter two barriers is not by figuring out a way to translate every English term into its literal counterpart in another language, but by simplifying explanations of medical problems in a manner that can be readily understood no matter what language is being used.
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