Smartphone app translates illness symptoms in 22 languages

MAEBASHI, Japan - A smartphone display shows an image from the free smartphone application "Health Life Passport." Researchers at Gunma University Hospital have worked out the app for producing a medical interview sheet for presentation to a doctor in up to 22 languages, based on replies to a multilingual questionnaire on the user's biodata, symptoms and illness history. It has been developed for those preparing for doctor visits in foreign countries, such as foreign nationals in Japan not confident about expressing symptoms in Japanese as well as Japanese visiting hospitals overseas.