Communication as a social phenomenon constitutes the basis of all human interaction and, regardless of which way we choose to communicate - through words, gestures, facial expressions or touch, communication is a key prerequisite for building successful interpersonal and professional relationships in a spirit of mutual respect and trust. In healthcare settings, effective communication is a crucial, sometimes even life-changing factor. Communication in the field of health care requires complex communication skills, mainly on the part of the medical staff. In the context of the internationalized socio-cultural patient background and the resulting new multicultural characteristics, healthcare professionals face many challenges in achieving relevant and successful communication with patients. The dynamics of demographic flows and the increasingly intense cultural-linguistic diversity of the population requires remodeling of the traditional health professional - patient communication and mastering of an up-to-date set of specific intercultural communication skills to help health professionals deal with the challenge that intercultural communication in the health sector presents. Foreign language skills and their appropriate application should be considered as a natural first step for building and developing intercultural communication skills in health professionals and a key prerequisite for providing culturally competent health care. Functional foreign language skills and their purposeful use for the needs of effective intercultural dialogue are efficient tools that support the ability of the medical specialist to react adequately in a foreign-cultural clinical situation by recognizing the needs of the foreign-cultural patient and showing readiness to adapt his communicative settings. Enhancing intercultural competence in healthcare through project-based foreign language teaching is a well proven approach that can significantly improve healthcare professionals' capacity to communicate effectively with diverse patient populations. This approach focuses not only on learning a foreign language but also on understanding and respecting cultural differences, which is crucial in healthcare settings where cultural nuances and language barriers can impact patient care. By combining language learning with intercultural competence through project-based teaching, healthcare professionals gain practical skills that enhance their competence to provide culturally sensitive and effective care to patients from a wide range of backgrounds.

This paper is part of a university research project for developing a project based program focused on foreign language training of medical professionals for providing culturally and linguistically appropriate healthcare. After initial desk research phase on the topic, a survey among healthcare staff from healthcare institutions in Burgas region, Bulgaria (>200) was conducted. Survey results clearly prove that health professionals identify the need for adequate and effective foreign language skills as an integral part of the necessary intercultural competences. Our research team aims to design and put into action a project based foreign language program that will support the efforts of healthcare workers to ensure effective communication and consequently provide culturally and linguistically competent medical care of high quality.

Keywords: Healthcare communication, language learning, language barriers.