Today, all the most influential medical journals are written in English, and English has become the language of choice at international conferences. We have entered the era of medical English, which resembles the era of medical Latin in that, once again, medical doctors have chosen a single language for international communication.
Learning a new language like English is a time-consuming process and it can be a challenge, but with regular study it can be done. Rather than spend a few hours learning English once or twice a week, most experts say short, regular study sessions are more effective. As little as 30 minutes a day can help you improve your English skills over time. So it is very important to self-study medical English every day.
To improve your medical English, you should surround yourself with English in your everyday life, so you will make it appear to your brain that the English language is something real in your life and that it is vitally important to learn this language. Here are a number of ideas for surrounding yourself with the English language:
- read medical textbooks in English;
- watch educational medical videos or online medical lectures;
- read online daily and medical news in English.
Using a textbook can help you add more structure to your self-study programme. This is especially important if you are learning English at home on your own.
These books provide a useful introduction to medical English for non-native English speakers:
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Eric Glendinning, Ron Howard. Professional English in Use. Medicine. |
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Eric Glendinning, Beverly Holmstrom. English in Medicine. 3rd Edition. |
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Alla Kondratiuk, Yuliia Ostraus. English for medical students. |