Doctors at a hospital anglo champions of the French

Photo Chantal Poirier
Carol Cholette has spent hours translating the web site of Radimed and convinced the doctors to invest a lot of money.

Saturday, 26 August, 2017 08:00

UPDATE
Saturday, 26 August, 2017 08:00

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Physicians affiliated to a hospital English were so successful in translating their web site that it is now being used to teaching at the cegep level.

Of the clinical team Radimed has put more than a year to translating a number of technical terms, as much on their website that on the medical reports. Their efforts have been rewarded by the award of Merit of the French for a company with 50 to 99 employees presented by the Office québécois of the French language.

Even the Cégep de Sainte-Foy uses the web site of the clinic example.

But why doctors are related to an English-language institution have they put so much effort to offer services in French ? This is due in large part to the initiative and the work of Carol Cholette, director of marketing and special projects at Radimed.

“I had to do a lot of research to make sure I have the right terms in French. For example, it does not say mammogram, but mammography, ” says one who was hired six years ago.

English to French

At the time, the clinic bore the name of radiology Clinic West Island. After the acquisition of clinics in Valleyfield and another that was located in Vaudreuil-Dorion, it was decided to put the emphasis on the French.

“On the old website, there was a lot of English terms,” says the one that has particularly benefited from the passage of radiologists French in Quebec to ask them questions about the right words to use.

Only on the first day, the website of the clinic has allowed fifty patients to enroll in French. They can also find the technical explanations on several topics related to the examinations in radiology.

Even if most of the 39 physicians related to the five clinical Radimed are bilingual, the reports are all made in French. If required, a team in charge of translating it into English.

“Even if it is related to McGill, people think that it is just English-speaking, but the clientele is very diverse,” she said, recalling that family physicians across the province of Québec may refer patients for exams.

According to it, the language laws do not guarantee that the French will prevail in some areas, especially in health care.

“Despite the laws, people will say x-ray, they use a lot of English terms. The protection of the French takes a shot. “

Still work

The doctors have all worked enthusiastically on the project to improve the web site and the French home in the clinics. The notion of French as the language of work is so well established that, even in a scientific publication to come, the focus will be on the French.

Despite everything, there remain some challenges. Thus, the software to integrate the x-ray images to the electronic patient record are only in English.

“It has been a blessing for me”

Photo Ben Pelosse

Kim Thuy. Author

The author Kim Thuy did not hesitate to speak of a blessing when she speaks of bill 101 that allowed him to learn French at school.

“I was able to regain its freedom, it has given me a voice. With communism, one no longer had a voice, ” says the author, who fled Vietnam with his parents and arrived in Quebec who do not speak French very well.

After forty years in the country, French has become its own language, but she believes that it must also be open to other languages.

“This is not because we speak English sometimes they don’t like the French. As this is not because we love the journey that you don’t like Quebec, for an example.

Even if his parents spoke vietnamese, she said that they have not had too much trouble with French at school.

“The first year has been more difficult. But, as I spent more time with my friends than with my parents, who had two or three jobs, I have learned, ” said the one who is now ambassador to the dictionary Petit Robert in Quebec.

Put in the effort

His son has also had the chance to learn more than one language, since he was born when she and her husband lived in Bangkok. They returned to Quebec when he was only two and a half years. Thus, he was able to do his school career in French. It has not necessarily had a course in school easier.

“At the base, everyone should learn French, even those whose parents speak it. It is necessary to put in the effort, ” she said.

This is why bill 101 is an important tool. According to her, many immigrants would choose English if they had the choice of language at the school.

“It has helped create an entire generation of francophones. Even the Vietnamese, when we talk between us, we speak French, ” she said. The author refuses, moreover, to fall into the scaremongering of those who say that the French-mother-tongue population is in decline in Quebec.

“This is not the mother tongue, which makes the difference. There is more to not having French as a mother tongue even if they speak every day, ” she concludes.