MEDICAL TRANSLATION
saying “I need this in Chinese”, take a moment to dig a little deeper and ask them if it is simplified Chinese or traditional Chinese. Do I need Spanish that will be understood in Spain or in Latin America? Knowing your audience also means taking into account whether your participants are teenagers or older adults, and this should inform your language.
How can we work best with language service providers (LSPs) and medical translators? It is important to recognise that they are our partners and to therefore work with them as an effective team. You will be able to provide feedback on a translation, review it and allow for continual improvement.
Project managers are our partners as well;
they provide the scope and big picture of the project. They will be able to define the method of delivery of the protocol – will it be given by phone or mailed to the patients, for example? I can’t emphasise enough the importance of their input. To work effectively together with your LSP and project managers, it’s advisable to provide a glossary of key terms about the blueprint of your organisation. This might include the names of your departments, the fonts to be used and how to say certain terms etc. Translators are also very detailed, so they will likely capture inconsistencies and errors in a document. They may get stuck on a term if it is ambiguous, so you will have to answer queries throughout the process to keep the project moving along. Medical translators are an essential part of the success of a protocol so do use professional, accredited translators or those with proven experience in the field. Make sure you provide
“Medical translators are an essential part of the success of a protocol, so do use professional, accredited translators or those with experience in the field. Make sure you provide context and information about your audience – all these things are vital for success.”
context and information about your audience, give them your glossary – all these things are vital for success. Medical translators will also localise the translation, adapting the text or the spoken word to the language and culture of the target country and population. One other thing to bear in mind is that you
may want to use an editor based in the source country to ensure that a text is fully understood by linguists in that region.
Could you expand on the role of the professional medical translator? The professional medical translator will create a natural flow in the target language. They will also convert the passive voice to the active voice in that language, and create shorter sentences, resulting in a natural flow that does not seem clunky or awkward. They will omit all unnecessary possessives, double negatives and repetitions. A good translator will ensure abbreviations and acronyms are fully spelled out and they will research terms used. They will discern and choose the correct terminology to ensure that the appropriate definition is reached.
Do you have any other advice on ensuring effective translation?
It is worth mentioning linguistic validation. This is designed to ensure a translation is linguistically accurate and culturally appropriate and is validated by professionals in the field. It involves two forward translations into the target language, and then a third linguist edits and combines it and does the harmonisation. For the third step, there is a blind back translation into English by another team and finally there’s a clinician review. To ensure an effective translation, it is important not to miss out any of these steps.
It is also important to use cognitive debriefing, which is the process where a text or patient questionnaire is tested among representatives of the target population and target language group to determine it is understood as the original. This will provide valuable feedback on your translation. To conclude, I would recommend you work with professional language experts to save time and ensure the smoothest experience for your trial participants. All views are the author’s own.
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