o-= C a Cf Medical translation basics T T] o Afof Steiert €t Motthios Sfeierf o Ca

Translation of medical literature involves many to this mistranslation, 47 prostheses were implanted without cenlent, and this caused dilficulties for the patients' health. aspects of human health: drug prescription infor- The hospital had to offer the affected patients costly remedial mation, medical device manuals, medical and surgeries. The press repons also mentioned large compensation pharmaceutical patents, clinical trial literature, claims on behalf of the patients and claims from heaith insur- patient education and medical history. Due to the ance companies. A manufacturer of the knee implants stated that the outer packaging was in English only, in full compliance impact of medications and medical devices on peo- with German law. However, a detailed manual in German was ple's lives, it is especially important to avoid errors included inside each package. According to the implant manu- in comprehension or suppression of information. facturer, the mistranslation of labels was not a language issue, but an issue of internal quality control procedures at the Berlin For any given medicine or medical device, in the situation hospital. In any case, the language factor entered the story and of a regular treatment or in a clinical trial of a new medicine, caused troubles and problems for all panies involved - the this information needs to be explained clearly in the patient's manufacturer. patients and hospital. native language in any country where the drug or device has Another case occurred between 2004 and 2005 at a hospi- been approved for the respective market. tal near Epinal in eastern France, where men suffering from The consequences of wrongful information due to translation prostate cancer received massive overdoses of radiation treat- errors can, for example, result in incorrect dosages of medications ment. As a result, several patients died, and dozens of other and can jeopardize a person's life. Therefore, medical literature patients were also affected. The regulator of the French health requires translators who are highly specialized in this freld and care sector investigated the case and found several problems rvho are extremely cautious about terminology and the exact at the hospital, including language translation issues. The dose translation of subject-specific terms and phrases. Professional defrning software used for cancer therapy in the hospital at iranslators know that many bilinguais are not as fluent as they Epinal was in English only. A user manual in French was not think. A self-proclaimed bilingual with a passing knowledge of available. So the hospital's administration relied on bilingual a foreign language who uses a bilingual dictionary to struggle stalf members who used the software. These tragedies remind ihrough technical documents in the foreign language can easily us once again that proper translations made by experienced overlook or misunderstand fundamental points. and specialized professional translators can help reduce risks of Two examples have been reported showing the dramatic effect translation errors in the health sector. Crat even a minor mistranslation can have. One invoives the With today's globalization, more and more medical and story of a knee endoprostheses that was incorrectly implanted pharmaceutical patents are translated all over the world with the lue to a flawed translation at a Berlin hospital in 2007. Pros- intention of submitting these documents as patent applications :hesis labels that were marked "Non-Modular Cemented" had to countries other than that of the inventor in order to obtain reen mistranslated as zementfrei (not requiring cement). Due broader and internationai patent protection for new inventions and future products. Usually, the pat- Afof Steiert, president ond cofounder of Afof Tronslotions, ent consists ofan introduction, detailed works os o conference Arobic interpreter ond tronslotor. She description of the invention, claims holds an M.Sc. in moleculor biology from the University of and a concluding summary or final Bosel. Motthios Steierf, cofounder of Afof Tronslotions, spe- abstract. The patent claims are com- ciolizes in Germon phormoceuticol tronslotions. He holds o prised of an extensive list of what type Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Bosel. of methods, technologies or procedures

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are covered and legally protected by the a large number of new terms into the the original was omitted and nothing has invention's discovery, and they deserve medical lexicon. Because of the need to been added to the target text), and con- particular attention during translation quickly update their knowledge, health sistently (specifrc terms, stylistic elements because they are most often disputed by professionals learn directly in the origi- and language-specifrc norms have been competing pharmaceutical companies in nal language ofthe publication and stick conslstently used throughout)." \Mhile patent suits. For this reason it is impor- to it in daily usage, as medical interpret- of importance for the entire translation tant to also include the final revision ers or translators have to continuously industry this statement could not be more with an expert in the medical field and its read and educate themselves in the field crucial for medical transiation. Constant target language (TL). Usually, the intro- terminology. It is only much iater that communication between the client and the duction can be hard to understand for the the first attempts to translate these terms project manager is also of utmost impor- translator, and then once he or she works start to timidly appear, and this leads to tance to resolve uncenainties in under- on the project, it tends to becorne easler. further problems. For many words, it is standing the material. Project managers To cut the research tirne for the translator, not easy to find suitable corresponding can then clearly explain any issues to the the availabiliry of glossaries is always a terms in the TL, thus making translation medical translator or editor. The project great advantage. Funhermore, previously difficult. The correct translation of new manager also utilizes his or her medical translated patents in the same subject terminology has to be introduced by a expenise to fx occasional writing elTors matter 0r field help reduce the efforts for translator who is an expert in the medi- in the source lext before the translation. translation and are just as imporlant to cal field in order to render the target text This is especially helpfu1 if the source text improve the efficiency and consistency of so that it is not only easier to understand will be translated into different languages the TL and its tenns. k tends to be much but also to make sure errors, such as the and helps to prevent transfelring those easier to rvork rvith the sarne translators previously mentioned mistranslation at errors into the TL translations. If a docu- or translation team to maintain consistent the Berlin hospital, will be avoided. ment is translated the frrst time with expeft qualiry. Even when a preexisting transla- There have been an increasing num- understanding of the subject, the better the tion memory (TM) is available, a highly ber of requirements and higher standards quality outcome of the final document. knowledgeable translator is still needed. implemented by pharmaceutical corpora- Many small specialized translation compa- Basic linguistic skills and reliance on an tions, requiring a lot of additional time nies follow this structural approach rather extensive TM alone will not suffice for for auditing. While this trend of a1l the than opting for a high-throughput, low quallty medical translation. respective IS0 certifications in more (initial) cost approach a procedure that qualification quality - The of translators, com- stringent control is understand- is often adopted by some large translation petence, stand- ceftification, back translation, able from a safety and liability corporations, who then spend much time quality represent point, process and editing and assurance the entire of editing and money fixing incorrect translations essential ingredients successful documents becomes extremely the of a veriflring during the editing and proofreading pro- and precise medical translation. It is also tedious and time consuming and at tlmes cess. Updates and last-minute coffections strongly advisable to check on transla- sti1l results in a loss of culture-specific, require much energy and create an oppor- tors' references and to review samples understandable content of the entire tunity to actually introduce new errors. and other proof of their personal expertise translation project itself. Finally, translation companies are in medical translation. The best outcome for a medical transla- if committed to the products they provide, Initiation of new translation projects tion project lies in relying on specialist- they must pay professionals satisfac- begins with creating a glossary of the trained medical translation project managers, Poorly paid leads rush major subject terms. We collaborate wlth translators, editors and proolleaders. Often, torily. work to jobs, consequently lowering the quality many translators and always obsele specific medical and pharmaceutical research the result. These measures will how imporlant it is to have translators subject matters need to be translated under of final quality of medical text with not only linguistic skills but the the guidance or with the assistance of a help improve the capability of clearly understanding the translator and editor holding either a medi- translations. A11 things considered, it is medical or pharmaceutical subject nlatter. cal degree or a scientific degree, rather than worth investing in a project from the medical Ideally, translators should understand a just by a generally certihed translator, even beginning with a well-trusted broad range of complex procedures and one operating in an IS0 environment. translation team. M experiments in laboratories and the medi- Rocio Txabarriaga states in the article cal practice. Even if the individual is a 'About Translation Standards" that "the References certified medicai translator or interpreter, real indicators of proficiency in transla- Fakler, Johannes K., Yohan Robinson, it is paramount for him or her to be in tion are klowledge of the subject matter, Christoph E. Heyde and Thilo John. "Errors in progressions and knowledge relevant terminology, the touch with the current of handling and manufacturing of orthopaedic innovations in the medical field, keeping ability to discem meaning in context and implants: the tip of the iceberg of an abreast with recent medical and scientific transfer it within the target language con- unrecognized system problem?" Potient journal articles. straints, i.e., accurately (all meaning has Sofety in Surgery (zool):'l : 5. www. been transferred), precisely (all nuances of pssjou rna l.com/content/ t / t /s Obtaining a good translation the language, tone, intent, style have been Txabarriaga, Rocio. /M/A Guide on

Medicine is a field of knowledge in preserved in the target language), correctly Medicol Tro nslotion. I nternationa I Medical accelerated scientific and technological (grammar, syntax, orthography rules have lnterpreters Association, January 2009. www. deveiopment that each year incorporates been obserued), completely (no part of imiaweb.org/uploads/pages/+3B.pdf aa I Uuttilingual JulylAugust 2011 editon@m u ltiling ual.com I