Comparative Study of Hospitals’ Websites Construction

Abstract

Objectives: To offer better solution to English hospital websites in China. Method: 10 top hospitals in China and English-speaking countries were selected respectively and comparative analysis was carried out. Results: The analysis of English website of 10 hospitals in China indicated the English websites are characterized by the lack of audience consciousness, audience-centeredness, language errors, and poor interaction of website discourse. Conclusion: English hospital websites in China can be improved by the following 3 aspects. Firstly, hospitals should attach greater importance to the construction of English websites by being patient-centered and user-friendly; secondly, linguistically, translators responsible for English hospitals website should have the intercultural communication awareness and enhance the readability of the translated, playing the role of being the facilitators, coordinator between the audience and the hospital culture; Thirdly, hospital English websites in China, culturally, need to enhance the interactivity between the website texts and the targeted audience.