Numbers at an English-Speaking Skin Clinic in Seoul

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Visitors to Seoul clinics arrive from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and elsewhere, and for many of them English is a working language rather than a home language. The doctor or the staff member translating is often in the same position, with a different accent, school vocabulary and habits of politeness.

Lunt and Carrera reviewed the research on treatment abroad in Maturitas in 2010 and found the evidence on quality, outcomes and the practical side of cross-border care thin and uneven. Little of it looks at how two non-native speakers agree on a plan, so the habits below are worth more than a claim of fluent staff.

Aesthetic plans are full of figures, and figures are where second-language listening fails first. Fifteen and fifty, thirteen and thirty, or two to three versus twenty-three sound close across accents, especially through a mask.

Dates cause the second set of problems. Korea writes dates year, month, day, many Europeans write day first and Americans month first, so a recheck noted as 04/05 can mean two different weeks. Aftercare timings such as no makeup for 24 hours need the same care.

Idioms and soft phrases travel badly. A little tight, I'm easy, or whatever you think is natural to you yet may sound like consent to more treatment than you wanted. Concrete words do better: say the area, the amount of change you want and what you do not want, in that order.

Short turns help too: one question per sentence, then wait for the answer. Asking a speaker to repeat more slowly is normal in a clinic that sees many international visitors, and it is better than nodding.

• Use the name of the area, such as forehead, jawline or under-eye, rather than here or this part.
• Rate discomfort with a number from zero to ten instead of words like okay or fine.
• Say no clearly once rather than maybe later, which can be heard as yes.

Sometimes the doctor explains in Korean and a staff member relays the conversation in English. Li and colleagues, writing in Patient Education and Counseling in 2017, argued that most models of interpreted consultations treat the interpreter as a channel and leave out the interaction itself: how the doctor, the patient and the interpreter shape meaning together, turn by turn.

For a visitor this has a practical side. Look at the doctor while you speak, keep turns short so each one can be relayed whole, and expect the person relaying to ask you to clarify a word; that is the process working.

Before numbing cream goes on, read the written plan back aloud: each area, the product or device, the units, cc or lines, and the aftercare hours. Point at each figure as you say it so that a mismatch shows on the page and not only in the sound.

Keep that sheet with your passport for the rest of the trip, and quote its figures if a question by message follows.