香港医学生的解剖学双语能力调查

Survey on Hong Kong medical students' bilingual ability in anatomy

目的了解香港中文大学医学院临床医学专业本科生的解剖学双语能力。方法问卷调查,调查对象为122名临床医学专业一年级的本科生。问卷共列出了22个英文解剖学名词和19个中文解剖学名词,要求学生进行英汉或汉英互译,并就每个名词听到过的程度进行评级。结果 1.常听到的英语名词的中文翻译为所有名词的14%;中文名词的英文翻译为8%;2.英译汉的正确率为总人数的18%;汉译英的正确率亦是18%。两者的水平大致相同;3.常听到的名词虽然较容易译对,但有不少是惯用错词,经常译错;4.中学时期的授课语言(纯中文或纯英文教学)似乎与医学生的双语能力无关;授课时如果兼用另一种语言,則学生的双语能力较好。结论香港医学生解剖学双语能力存在如下问题:1.对中文名词认识不足,英译汉或汉译英都存在困难;2.强记英文和拉丁名词,不求甚解;3.人错我错。双语能力亦是医学生面对社会、与人沟通的问题。提升双语能力对社会和学生而言都是十分重要的。

Objective To investigate the bilingual ability of undergraduate medical students in the faculty of medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Methods A questionnaire survey on the bilingual ability of Hong Kong＇s medical students in anatomy was designed. Total 122 year-one medical students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong answered the questionnaire, which included 22 anatomical terms in English and 19 ones in Chinese. The students were required to translate them into Chinese or English, respectively, and also rated their familiarity with the words. Results The percentage of familiar English-to-Chinese translation was 14% of total number used, and that of Chinese-to-English was 8% ;2. The numbers of students giving correct translation in both English into Chinese and Chinese into English were 18% of the class; 3. Often-heard terms were easier to be translated correctly, but many were idiomaticaUy translated into wrong words; 4. The bilingual ability of students were not related to the teaching languages used in their secondary schools. If both languages were used in teaching, students could acquire better bilingual ability. Conclusion The result of the survey showed the following problems in the bilingual ability of Hong Kong medical students： 1. The knowledge of Chinese terms is limited： therefore they have difficulty in both English-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-English; 2. The students only mechanically memorize English and Latin terms without understanding their meaning; 3. They usually follow common mistakes. Bilingual problem is what medical students are facing in society and their communication with people. Keeping up the bilingual ability is important not only for students but also for the society.