In medicine does a doctor have to learn both greek and latin?
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at
8:29 pm
This is a question about medical termology. Do doctors or other meidcal profession need to know both Greek and Latin>
So if you were talking bone cells in Latin it would be osteocyte, but in Greek it would be ossicyto correct?
So it seems logical that both are required, is that correct?
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Tagged with: bone cells • doctors • latin • medical termology • profession
Filed under: Greek Language
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No, Latin and Greek are no longer requirements for acceptance into medical school. But since medical terms are largely derived from Latin and Greek, Hashimoto and Kawasaki diseases being exceptions, a rudimentary knowledge is helpful.
Best of all, when a musclebound hulk tries to hit on your girl, you can call him a stultus asinus and you might get away with it.
No, but a little knowledge of both is helpful.
You need neither, however, some Latin is useful, but not essential.
Latinum ( on its podcast) had produced a Latin course for medical students. On the podcast it is free.
you can also get a copy of it here:
http://latinumstore.blogspot.com/
I am a physician. The short answer is: No.
Of course, learning the "language of medicine" is a big part of medical school. Like any profession, there is a ton of jargon and I think medicine has about twice as much as the law which has more than engineering, etc. Of that jargon, a huge number of the vocabulary words come from latin and greek roots. Sometimes, they mix latin and greek, although that is considered declasse’. Having a background in latin and greek helps as does having a wide vocabulary overall. But, it is not necessary to be able to read either language.
In the past Latin and Greek were both necessary. My grandmother went to medical school in German in the 1920s. She was amazed that I couldn’t answer her or quote Virgil, etc. She thought that Americans let "anyone" into medical school.