Politeness, Linguistics, and Interculturality in Anamnesis – The Case of Romanian Language for Doctors
Politeness, Linguistics, and Interculturality in Anamnesis – The Case of Romanian Language for Doctors

Summary/Abstract: The study of Romanian as a foreign language by international students enrolled in English medical programmes, besides offering them the possibility to manage daily interactions, is professionally motivated by the students’ need to attend clinical and practical internships and as such to engage in professional doctor-patient interactions. Therefore, the major objective of Romanian Language for Doctors, an optional course addressed to students in years IV–VI of the MLE programme, is the practice of anamnesis. Certain differences related the students’ native cultures versus the Romanian culture, their mixed level of proficiency in general Romanian language (accuracy in oral expression), and the use of English as an interface for Romanian language acquisition for all the students, raise a number of barriers to communication. The paper presents some elements of pragmatics such as politeness, directness / indirectness, linguistics (synonymy and polysemy, calques), and intercultural competence that represent stumbling blocks in oral communication in Romanian for specific medical purposes through a case study: anamnesis taking in the optional course Romanian Language for Doctors.

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