Sociolinguistic Study on improving medical communication between foreign patients and Japanese physicians

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520454
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: SHIN SOJUNG 東京大学, 大学院情報学環, 客員研究員 (40597192)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): ISIZAKI Masato 東京大学, 大学院情報学環, 教授 (30303340)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 医療コミュニケーション / 丁寧表現不使用 / 絶対敬語・相対敬語 / コミュニケーションスタイル / 外国人支援

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to explore communication styles required for creating reassuring medical environments as a part of providing support for foreigners in a multi-cultural society. The analysis of our questionnaire survey on the use/non-use of polite expressions by the physicians for Korean and Japanese patients reveals that Korean evaluate the non-use of politeness expressions more negatively than Japanese. The previous studies suggest that Korean/ Japanese use honorifics tailored to age of/familiarity with the other party, respectively. However, in medical interviews different from the situations in everyday conversations, both Korean and Japanese consider familiarity with the physicians more important than their age.

Free Research Field

社会言語学