Triadic medical interaction with a bilingual doctor

Authors

  • Louisa Willoughby Monash University
  • Marisa Cordella University of Queensland
  • Simon Musgrave Monash University
  • Julie Bradshaw Monash University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.31956

Keywords:

language-concordant physicians, medical communication, medical interpreting, migrant, triadic medical consultations

Abstract

While studies of interpreted medical interactions are common, there is relatively little research on bilingual doctors who choose to consult in the migrant patients’ first language. This paper presents a case study of one such language concordant consultation conducted in Italian in the outpatients’ clinic of an Australian hospital, a triadic encounter where the patient was accompanied by her Italian-speaking daughter. In this consultation English medical terms were sometimes introduced but Italian was the main language of the consultation. The communication between all parties was notably very smooth and we reflect on reasons for this. These include the commitment of all parties to using Italian and the proactive role played by the patient’s Italian-speaking daughter in supporting and occasionally challenging her mother’s account of affairs. We conclude by reflecting on issues that bilingual doctors need to be aware of before undertaking to consult in more than one language.

Author Biographies

  • Louisa Willoughby, Monash University
    Louisa Willoughby, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in the Linguistics Program at Monash University. Her research focuses on issues affecting speakers of minority languages, particularly in education and health settings. She is also interested in language maintenance and shift more broadly, language and identity and Deaf studies.
  • Marisa Cordella, University of Queensland
    Marisa Cordella holds a PhD in linguistics from Monash University and is currently a Reader in Spanish at the University of Queensland. Her research interests include discourse analysis, intercultural communication, medical discourse, translation studies and intergenerational second-language learning.
  • Simon Musgrave, Monash University
    Simon Musgrave, PhD, is a Lecturer in the Linguistics Program at Monash University. His research interests include Austronesian languages, language endangerment, African languages in Australia, communication in medical encounters and linguistics as part of digital humanities.
  • Julie Bradshaw, Monash University
    Julie Bradshaw has a PhD from the University of York, UK, and is an Adjunct Research Fellow in the Linguistics Program at Monash University. Her research interests include multilingualism and language maintenance, the sociolinguistic aspects of second-language acquisition, minority-language literacy, place-identity and communication in medical settings.

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Published

2020-03-14

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 2 (2018): Special Issue: Interpreter-Mediated Healthcare Encounters

Section

Articles

License

copyright Equinox Publishing Ltd.

How to Cite

Willoughby, L., Cordella, M., Musgrave, S., & Bradshaw, J. (2020). Triadic medical interaction with a bilingual doctor. Communication and Medicine, 15(2), 222-232. https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.31956