Dublin Core
Title
The Attitudes Towards the Use of Anglicisms in the Croatian Language of Medicine
Abstract
In this research paper, we will explore the laypersons' attitudes towards the use of Anglicisms
in medical language. Some communication difficulties may arise between patients and their
doctors because patients' knowledge of medicine and medical terminology is insufficient.
Therefore, they often remain uninformed and misunderstood.
A questionnaire-based study was carried out among 100 laypersons in Rijeka, Croatia. It
aimed to explore understanding, acceptance, use, and need for Croatian equivalents, which
show their attitudes towards using Anglicisms in medical communication. The findings show
some statistically significant differences in terms of understanding and use of Anglicisms with
respect to the age of the respondents and the level of their education. The respondents mainly
justify the use of English medical terms in medicine when there is no adequate Croatian
equivalent. However, a high percentage of them support the need for creating Croatian
equivalents, which should be more understandable and transparent than the English ones. We
can conclude that Anglicisms are widely used in the Croatian medical language, but the
Croatian equivalents should be created in collaboration between doctors and linguists.
in medical language. Some communication difficulties may arise between patients and their
doctors because patients' knowledge of medicine and medical terminology is insufficient.
Therefore, they often remain uninformed and misunderstood.
A questionnaire-based study was carried out among 100 laypersons in Rijeka, Croatia. It
aimed to explore understanding, acceptance, use, and need for Croatian equivalents, which
show their attitudes towards using Anglicisms in medical communication. The findings show
some statistically significant differences in terms of understanding and use of Anglicisms with
respect to the age of the respondents and the level of their education. The respondents mainly
justify the use of English medical terms in medicine when there is no adequate Croatian
equivalent. However, a high percentage of them support the need for creating Croatian
equivalents, which should be more understandable and transparent than the English ones. We
can conclude that Anglicisms are widely used in the Croatian medical language, but the
Croatian equivalents should be created in collaboration between doctors and linguists.
Keywords
the language of medicine, medical terminology, Anglicisms, loan words
Publisher
International Burch University