WHERE DOES IT HURT? - A CROSS-CULTURAL GUIDE FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

This is No. 2 in a series of cross-cultural guides to the language and culture of the Iwaidja-speaking people of northwestern Arnhem Land. It comes with an audio CD to assist with learning and pronunciation of Iwaidja. The guide is produced for health professionals working in communities in the region. The aim is to help them understand the culture of their Indigenous patients and learn the language through which it is expressed, so reducing any cultural gap that may exist. As with the other guides in the series, it is organised partly as a phrasebook and partly as a cross-cultural handbook.

The introduction contains a guide to the pronunciation of the sounds of Iwaidja, which can be heard on the audio CD. Health professionals are guided step by step in learning how to engage in conversations with Indigenous patients about their medical issues. Bi-lingual examples help them become fluent enough in Iwaidja to name body parts and organs, explain the steps of examinations or tests that need to be undertaken, and give advice on treatment. Iwaidja is a highly endangered language spoken mainly at Minjilang on Croker Island. It will be easy to transfer the knowledge gained from this guide into the neighbouring languages Mawng and Kunwinjku as they all share a similar cultural background.

All profit from sales of this book will go to the Iwaidja language team for recording and publishing their endangered cultural knowledge. Your support will help maintain the linguistic and cultural diversity of northwestern Arnhem Land.

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