[Bilingual health]

On the occasion of the celebration of Basque Country Day, we will talk about the relationship between mother tongue and health, with Kepa Erdocia Uriarte, linguist at the UPV/EHU and member of the research group Gogo-Elebiduna.

Language, of course, plays an important role in the doctor-patient relationship in health care, and Félix Zubia, Intensive Care Doctor at the Donostia Hospital, has been reflecting on the subject for years.

We will also be at the BCBL research center in San Sebastian. A project has been initiated to determine whether bilingualism is a cognitive protection against dyslexia. This project studies the brain of bilingual children. On the other hand, the fact that the mother tongue is a minority language has its nuisances and directly affects the Basques. For example, there is a lack of material created in Basque for the evaluation of language disorders, according to the experts of My Clinic. But the solution may be close: The UPV/EHU opened last year the degree in Speech Therapy in Basque at the San Sebastian campus.