La Terminologie Médicale: Un Glossaire Trilingue Des Termes Gynécologiques (Anglais-Français-Igbo) Dans « Trends in Vaginal Hysterectomy in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital: A 14 Year Review »

Abstract

Medical terminology in the area of gynecology is very important due to the complexity and sphericity of gynecological conditions and procedures. This article is particularly motivated by the need to facilitate communication between health professionals, on one hand, and between them and gynecological patients in a multicultural hospital setting, on the other hand. Focusing on the three languages and cultures involved: English, French and Igbo, the study aims at producing a glossary of gynecological terms taken from the text mentioned above as a corpus. On the combined theoretical basis of language and communication, gynecological terminology and education, cultural and linguistic diversity, the study methodologically relies on written sources of data collection and proceeds to develop the trilingual glossary of gynecological terms in the text. Language and cultural differences hinder effective communication between health professionals and between them and patients, especially illiterate and monolingual, in hospital settings, resulting in harmful and sometimes, fatal effects on pregnant women and their babies. This is largely due to the lack of knowledge of gynecological terms by either of the parties in contact, or easy access to them. On the strength of the data collected and analyzed, the study advocates a collective push on the project of glossaries of gynecological terms involving more languages of narrow and wider diffusion, as a more easily accessible reproductive health guidance tool for all stakeholders.