Japanese for Pediatrician Visits: Shōnika Phrases for Parents

Four words for the clinic

Before any phrase, learn the four words below. The first is the line you will say most often, the other three are the place, the symptom you will name second most often and the handbook that every vaccination is recorded in.

Shōnika is a pediatric department or clinic. In a town you will see the sign 小児科 on a clinic building, often next to 内科 (naika, internal medicine). Many family clinics see children too, but a pediatric clinic is used to small patients and nervous parents.

Booking and reception

Many pediatric clinics use a web or phone booking system and give you a number, junban. Some ask you to phone before coming if your child has a fever, so that you can wait in a separate room. At the reception, uketsuke, you hand over the documents and receive a questionnaire, monshinhyō.

The documents differ, but the usual set is the health insurance card (hokenshō), or the My Number card registered for health insurance, the city's child medical expense certificate, whose name varies by city (for example kodomo iryōhi jukyūshashō), and the mother and child handbook, boshi techō, for vaccinations and checkups.

Words on the questionnaire

The pediatric questionnaire asks the same things in almost every clinic. Circle or tick the words that apply and write numbers clearly. If you do not understand a line, leave it and ask; that is better than guessing.

Ōto is the written word for vomiting. In speech, parents and doctors usually say haku (to throw up), as in kesa nikai hakimashita, she threw up twice this morning. Weight matters because children's medicine is measured by weight, so know your child's recent weight in kilograms.

Describing the symptoms to the doctor

Japanese doctors usually ask in a fixed order: what the main problem is, since when, how high the fever went, whether the child is eating, drinking and sleeping, and whether anyone at home or at nursery is ill. Prepare short answers. Temperatures are read with do for the degree and bu for the decimal: 38.5 is sanjūhachi do go bu.

Words for mood and energy matter in pediatrics, because they help the doctor judge how ill the child is. Kigen ga warui means the child is cranky; guttari shite iru means floppy and listless, which doctors take seriously.

Mini dialogue: in the examination room

A short, typical exchange. The doctor speaks politely but quickly; it is fine to ask them to repeat or to speak more slowly.

Yōsu o mite kudasai, keep an eye on her, often comes with a condition: if the fever lasts more than a few days, or if something specific happens, come back. If you did not catch the condition, ask: dō nattara mata kitara ii desu ka, in what case should we come back?

Checkups, vaccinations and medicine

Not every visit is for illness. Infant checkups, nyūyōji kenshin, are run by the city at set ages, sometimes at a health centre and sometimes at a clinic. Vaccinations, yobō sesshu, are usually booked at a pediatric clinic, and the city sends the forms. Bring the boshi techō every time, because the clinic records each dose in it.

Children's medicine in Japan often comes as powder, konagusuri, which parents mix with a little water or food, or as syrup. Fever-reducing suppositories, zayaku, are common too. The pharmacist explains how to use them; ask if anything is unclear.

Back to nursery or school

For some infectious illnesses, many nurseries and schools ask for a doctor's form before the child returns. Names differ: tōen kyokashō, ikensho or tōkō shōmeisho are common. Some facilities want a form filled in by the parent instead, tōen todoke. The list of illnesses and the rules are set locally, so ask the nursery or school which form they need, and ask the doctor for it at the visit.

Say the symptoms before the night you need them

Write your own child's details in the chat with Mocchi, for example /correct 昨日の夜から熱があって、ご飯をあまり食べません, and ask for a natural version a doctor would understand. Mocchi corrects it, explains the grammar and can build flashcards of the symptom words with /create-flashcards.

Then rehearse the visit aloud. The Describe Symptoms at a Clinic mission in AI Sensei puts you in front of a doctor who asks follow-up questions; ask Haru-sensei to treat the patient as your child, and to slow down if you need it. The session report shows which symptom words you missed.