Japanese for Healthcare Professionals: An Introduction to Medical Japanese

The only book of its kind in English, Japanese for Healthcare Professionals is a proficiency-based conversation textbook offering a complete Japanese language course that teaches Japanese grammar along with the vocabulary of medical care.

With nearly three million Japanese tourists visiting the United States last year, and another five hundred thousand expatriates residing in the US and other English-speaking countries, it is inevitable that many Japanese speakers find themselves in need of healthcare but unable to communicate. Important highlights of this book are:

• Accompanying Audio recordings from native-speakers.
• No prior knowledge of Japanese necessary.
• For all professionals seeking to communicate in healthcare situations.
• Includes an English-Japanese dictionary of medical terms, a glossary of common complaints, and a sample bilingual medical questionnaire.

Japanese for Healthcare Professionals offers a complete language course for classroom study or independent learners that teaches Japanese grammar along with the Japanese medical vocabulary. The chapters cover every step of a patient’s interaction with care providers, from appointments and admissions to the physical examination, symptoms and illnesses, diagnosis, treatment, instructions to the patient, discharge, and follow-up. Chapters are devoted to the major branches of medicine as well as dentistry and to the corresponding bodily systems. There are also chapters on anatomy, infection and disease, and visits to the pharmacy. Each chapter follows a natural progression designed to help the learner comprehend the new material and acquire the language as effortlessly as possible. Each includes: basic Japanese vocabulary, a situational dialogue, Japanese grammar points and key Japanese language and culture notes, exercises and practice drills, and a quiz to sharpen comprehension. The culture and language notes seek to help the provider understand better a Japanese patient’s cultural framework and patterns of belief, as well as the ＂un-translatable＂ meaning conveyed by certain idioms.

The accompanying audio recordings tie in core parts of each chapter, allowing learners to practice their spoken language skills outside of a classroom setting. The book also includes thirty illustrations to help with vocabulary acquisition, a pronunciation guide, an English-Japanese dictionary of medical terms, a glossary of Japanese expressions for common complaints, a sample bilingual medical questionnaire, and answers to the quizzes.

Emphasizing the learner’s practical use of the Japanese language for healthcare settings and the importance of culture in understanding, Japanese for Healthcare Professionals reflects the national standards in foreign-language education set by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign languages (ACTFL).

All media content is accessible on the Tuttle Publishing website.

Shigeru Osuka, BA, MA, MEd, and EdD, is the director of the Japanese Program in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Seton Hall University. He has taught at the University of Hawaii, Western Washington University, and the Mid-Pacific Institute in Hawaii, and has been a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo. He has served as a member of the Council of Conferences in the Association of Asian Studies and as president of the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies. He has also been an examiner for the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching program) and the Japanese International Baccalaureate program and an advanced placement reader in Japanese for ETS.