Reflections on the Semmelweis Medical Linguistics Conference 2026
Conference Report · Medical Linguistics
What a brilliant event the Semmelweis Medical Linguistics Conference was. A great line up provided rich insights into the intersection between language and healthcare, and much food for thought for the work we’re doing at SLC.
Conference Highlights
- ✔ Forensic and legal medicine and how language choices define evidence, classification (when does injury become an injury?), argument, and critical terms such as the Istanbul Protocol on torture;
- ✔ Analysis of the online discourse around vaccination side effects and its real-life consequences;
- ✔ Choice of synonym, e.g. fracture vs break, and how this effects patient decisions around treatment and risk;
- ✔ How online healthcare gurus use language to exploit anxiety and ambiguity, sowing distrust of medicine among the elderly, ultimately to sell expensive alternatives;
- ✔ How the interpreter in healthcare can never be a neutral presence, bringing experience, opinion and culture to any interaction, and what to do about that;
- ✔ The language of nutrition and how it increases inequity and excludes the linguistically disadvantaged;
- ✔ The irresistible rise of AI and the attendant concerns around reliability, decline in critical thinking and flattening of language;
- ✔ And the integration of communication skills training – cognitive, emotional, cultural – into medical education.
My presentation was on the AI Care Communication Trainer we have just launched, looking at how we developed a phone-based app that helps overseas-born social carers better manage everyday challenging conversations with care service users – often elderly, confused and with multiple complex healthcare needs.
It was also a couple of days of stimulating conversation, connecting with old friends and colleagues from universities around Europe, and making new connections – not forgetting bowls swimming with goulash, glasses of Hungarian pilsner and the fabulous architecture and sunshine of Budapest.
Hoping very much to be back there for the 2027 edition.
About the AI Care Communication Trainer
The AI Care Communication Trainer is an SLC-developed tool that supports overseas-born social carers in building the communication skills they need for real-world care settings. Using scenario-based conversation practice on a mobile platform, it helps carers navigate sensitive and complex interactions with greater confidence.
A few moments from the conference and from Budapest.
About SLC
Specialist Language Courses (SLC) is the UK’s leading provider of Medical English training, working with healthcare employers, education providers and individual learners in over 75 countries.
Interested in the AI Care Communication Trainer or our work at the intersection of language and healthcare? Get in touch — we’d love to hear from you.