Chinese For Dummies (132 page)

Making a diagnosis

Did your doctor say those magic words:
Méi shénme
没什么
(
沒甚麼
)
(may shummuh)
(
It's nothing
)? Yeah, neither did mine. Too bad. I bet you've heard stories about how doctors who use traditional medical techniques from ancient cultures can just take one look at a person and immediately know what ails them. The truth is, aside from simple colds and the flu, most doctors still need to take all kinds of tests to give a proper diagnosis. They may even need to perform the following tasks:

huà yàn
化验
(
化驗
) (hwah yan) (
lab tests
)

xīndiàntú
心电图
(
心電圖
)
(shin-dyan-too) (
electrocardiogram
)

huàyàn yíxià xiǎobiàn
化验一下小便
(
化驗一下小便
) (hwah-yan ee-shyah shyaow-byan) (
have your urine tested
)

When the doctor is ready to give you the verdict, here are some of the conditions you may hear (the minor ones, at least; check out
Table 19-3
for more serious diagnoses):

bìngdú
病毒
(beeng-doo) (
virus
)

gǎnmào
感冒
(gahn-maow) (
a cold
)

gǎnrǎn
感染
(gahn-rahn) (
infection
)

guòmín
过敏
(
過敏
) (gwaw-meen) (
allergies
)

liúgǎn
流感
(lyo-gahn) (
flu
)

qìguǎnyán
气管炎
(
氣管炎
) (chee-gwahn-yan) (
bronchitis
)

Talkin' the Talk

Pete takes his daughter, Lauren, to the
yīshēng
(
doctor
) after he notices her bad cough. The doctor takes her temperature and discusses what she may have with the family.

Yīshēng:

Lauren, hǎo xiāoxi! Nǐde tǐwēn zhèngcháng.

Lauren, how shyaow-she! nee-duh tee-one juhng-chahng.

Lauren, good news! Your temperature is normal.

Lauren:

Hǎo jí le.

how jee luh.

Great.

Yīshēng:

Kěnéng zhǐ shì gǎnmào.

kuh-nung jir shir gahn-maow.

Perhaps it's just a little cold.

Pete:

Hái chuánrǎn ma?

hi chwahn-rahn mah?

Is it still contagious?

Yīshēng:

Bú huì.

boo hway.

No.

Lauren:

Yánzhòng ma?

yan-joong mah?

Is it serious?

Yīshēng:

Bù yánzhòng. Nǐ zuì hǎo xiūxi jǐ tiān hē hěn duō shuǐ, jiù hǎo le.

boo yan-joong. nee dzway how shyow-she jee tyan huh hun dwaw shway, jyo how luh.

No. You should rest for a few days and drink lots of liquids, and it should get better.

Pete:

Tā děi zài chuángshàng tǎng duōjiû?

tah day dzye chwahng-shahng tahng dwaw-jyo?

How long must she rest in bed?

Yīshēng:

Zuì hǎo liǎng sān tiān.

dzway how lyahng sahn tyan.

Ideally for two or three days.

In Chinese, you generally put a negative prefix, such as
bù
不
(boo), in front of the verb you're negating. It sounds redundant in English to literally translate a response as
not serious
when someone asks about the seriousness of a situation. It's more colloquial and appropriate to translate it as
no,
as you see in the previous Talkin' the Talk section when Lauren asks the doctor if her ailment is serious.