language and anatomy

Definitely.

 

sure...but do you need to go through all that trouble just for that class? when everyone else is prolly not proficient in those languages anyway...

all med students learn it regardless of whether or not they have a background in those languages.

 

Both Latin and Greek are the fountation for medical terminology. I am taking a class right now on the Classical Background of Medical Terminology. It's really useful. So far, I would say Latin would help more (but I have only covered a few systems of the body).

There are some really good books by Joseph Tebben that introduce the most commonly used Greek and Latin language in medicine. One book is called "A Course in Medical Terminology" and it was published by Pearson in 2003.

 

I think the system is Latin-based, but Latin is derivative of Greek, so I favor (and recommend) Greek.

 

the bottom line is that knowing the language itself won't help you at all. knowing the base forms, prefixes, suffixes and terminations that pertain to medicine will (as well as knowing how they are used in different situations). Medical terms are made up of both greek and latin parts - sometimes one word will mix a latin prefix and termination with a greek base form.

 

Knowing Italian (similar word roots to Latin) actually helped me, I am now working on greek. But then again I am in the translation bussiness, so that's just me. you don't have to go out of the way to learn a language that will help only marginally.

 

hey, i think there are some premed who dont do things purely for resume, mschool, etc?

 

I dont think it really helps, the hard part of anatomy was identifying the parts, and more difficult part was the clinical part. Language might help for the hand and thats it... the hard stuff is head and neck, Pelvis and perineum and the pathways, plexuses and the clinical correlates

peace

Omar

 

Greek helps a lot. Classical Greek would be more helpful, but even modern Greek is pretty useful.

The fun way to learn it: get a Greek-speaking bf or gf and practice with them.