English for Medical Purposes Should Not Be Silent: Promoting Intercultural Communication of EMP in China

Abstract

With the rapid growth of academic cooperation of medical science between China and the world, there has been an increasing demand of intercultural communication in English for medical purposes (EMP) in China. For a long time, people in China have attached importance to reading and writing in EMP while neglecting the listening and speaking ability of medical students. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the situation of intercultural communication between Chinese doctors and foreign patients and explain the significance of verbal communication in EMP. Based on data collected from discourse cases in Chinese medical settings, this paper demonstrates that EMP in China should pay more attention to the three critical elements: medical jargon, contextualized language, and cultural difference, and analyzes the significance of three elements through qualitative research. This paper also explores underlying reasons of intercultural communication failure between Chinese doctors and foreign patients, and helps to develop the idea that EMP teaching in China should not be silent.