[Do Scandinavian physicians understand each other's languages?].

BACKGROUND: The national medical journals in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden publish selected papers from the other journals in their original languages. We wanted to know how well Scandinavian general practitioners understand their neighbour languages and English, today the "lingua franca" in medical publishing. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 111 doctors (36 Norwegians, 32 Danes, 43 Swedes) completed a questionnaire in which they rated their own subjective understanding of Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and English on a five point Likert scale. RESULTS: The Norwegian doctors rated their understanding of Danish significantly higher than Swedish (p < 0.01) and English (p < 0.01). The Swedish doctors rated English significantly higher than Danish (p < 0.01) and Norwegian (p = 0.01) and Norwegian significantly higher than Danish (p = 0.02). The Danish doctors did not rate the foreign languages differently. INTERPRETATION: Particularly because of the Swedish doctors' incomplete understanding of Danish and to some extent Norwegian, there is a risk that future communication between doctors in these countries will be conducted in the English language.