6.1006, Qs: Medical discourse, English trans of idioms

The Linguist List linguist at tam2000.tamu.edu
Tue Jul 25 19:30:53 UTC 1995


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-1006. Tue Jul 25 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  108
 
Subject: 6.1006, Qs: Medical discourse, English trans of idioms
 
Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. <aristar at tam2000.tamu.edu>
            Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at emunix.emich.edu>
 
Associate Editor:  Ljuba Veselinova <lveselin at emunix.emich.edu>
Assistant Editors: Ron Reck <rreck at emunix.emich.edu>
                   Ann Dizdar <dizdar at tam2000.tamu.edu>
                   Annemarie Valdez <avaldez at emunix.emich.edu>
 
Software development: John H. Remmers <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
 
Editor for this issue: dizdar at tam2000.tamu.edu (Ann Dizdar)
                           REMINDER
[We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually
best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is
then  strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list.   This policy was
instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we
would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.]
 
---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Tue, 25 Jul 1995 10:59:06 BST
From:  kersti.borjars at manchester.ac.uk (Kersti Bo"rjars)
Subject:  Q medical discourse
 
2)
Date:  Mon, 24 Jul 1995 11:49:42 -0000
From:  Andy.Way at CompApp.DCU.IE
Subject:  English Translations of Foreign Idioms sought
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Tue, 25 Jul 1995 10:59:06 BST
From:  kersti.borjars at manchester.ac.uk (Kersti Bo"rjars)
Subject:  Q medical discourse
 
I'm not sure whether Linguist subscribers are likely to know this kind of
thing, but I thought I might have a go.
 
I have a lovely GP (for people not familiar with the English system, a
"family doctor" or "house doctor") who, when she heard I was a linguist,
asked me to help her with some references. She is involved in training GPs
and also in developing course books on "patient contact".
 
She wanted to know whether there was any work done on how patients and
doctors talk to each other. So, I expect some literature on discourse
analysis of this type of conversation is what she is looking for. However,
she also wanted to know whether there was any literature on how patients
react to certain words, why they have very negative connotations with a
certain word etc. Is there any research on this?
 
I would really appreciate your help because she is such a nice GP, and I
promised I'd have a look for literature.
 
Thanks for your help.
 
Kersti
 
*******************************************************
 
Kersti Bo"rjars                 k.e.borjars at man.ac.uk
Department of Linguistics
University of Manchester
Manchester M13 9PL              Tel: +44-(0)61-275 3042
UK                              Fax: +44-(0)61-275 3187
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2)
Date:  Mon, 24 Jul 1995 11:49:42 -0000
From:  Andy.Way at CompApp.DCU.IE
Subject:  English Translations of Foreign Idioms sought
 
Hi there,
I'm looking (just for fun, really ...) for English translations
of "foreign" idioms, where this translation uses different words
from the same idiom in English, i.e. I don't want things like:
 
        EN: To kill the goose that lays the golden eggs -->
        FR: Tuer la poule aux oefs d'or
 
which boils down to the same thing, really.
 
What I'm after would be sthg like:
 
        EN: A miss is as good as a mile -->
        Swedish: "Close shoots no rabbits"
 
or:
 
        EN: That's nothing to write home about
        Swedish: "You wouldn't hang that on your Christmas tree"
 
which expresses the same idea in different terms. A Swedish friend
gave me those, and we use the translations now when appropriate
inst. of the "boring" old English alternatives, just for the crack!
 
Anyway, I think you get the idea of what I'm after. Examples gratefully
received, from non-European languages also.
 
Many thanks,
 
Andy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-6-1006.



More information about the LINGUIST mailing list