Open AccessMedical texts made simple - dream or reality?
Author(s) -
Inger Askehave,
Karen Korning Zethsen
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
hermes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.759
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1903-1785
pISSN - 0904-1699
DOI - 10.7146/hjlcb.v13i25.25585
Subject(s) - dream , simple (philosophy) , order (exchange) , field (mathematics) , medical information , computer science , user friendly , psychology , knowledge management , epistemology , business , philosophy , mathematics , finance , pure mathematics , neuroscience , operating system
This article is concerned with some of the problems medical companies have in trying to produce user-friendly medical texts. Research has shown that consumer information within the medical field is often difficult to understand for the non-specialist. There are several reasons for this. One is the frequent use of special language features in texts concerned with consumer information. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of special language and suggests ways in which specialist words and expressions may be downgraded and simplified in order to accommodate the intended non-specialist target group.