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Medical translation

Medical translation is a specific type of medical communication, it is a translation from one language to another of specialized medical texts on medical or pharmaceutical subjects. It may include history of disease, medical certificates, instructions and other documentation of medical equipment, drug testing reports, annotations to medicines, survey results etc. Medical translation covers a wide spectrum of genres: from research articles published in highly specialized journals, to clinical guides for physicians, text books for University students, patient information brochures, press releases, and TV documentaries about health. Medical translation is not restricted to highly specialized genres but also includes more general ones. Besides, the translators of medical texts should not always rely on the quality of the original when taking decisions about the coherence and style of the translation because not all authors are professional writers and not all source texts received as assignments are finished, ready-to-publish texts.

Medical translation has some characteristic features that translators should be aware of, like translation of medical terminology, medical ethics, usage of special medical sources, comprehension of medical notions.

Medical terminology includes terms for anatomical parts, diseases, syndromes, drugs, medical equipment, and so forth. The core of scientific medical terminology in any language consists of Greek and Latin combining forms. In terminological development there are two general tendencies of relevance: one towards standardization and unification, the other towards variation and innovation. Sometimes in medical translation it is required to avoid technical terminology so that non-specialists can understand its content.

Medical ethics

Medical ethics and responsibility often affect medical translation. The most important ethical norms both in medicine and in medical translation are:

1. Acting with knowledge and skill (since the health or even the lives of patients are often at stake);
2. Accuracy and validity of information;
3. Confidentiality (respect the privacy of patient histories);
4. Understanding, respect and empathy towards disabled people, different cultures views on health disease.

Medical information sources

Research for printed, electronic and personal sources is a key feature in medical translation for two reasons: 1) the translator may not have enough factual knowledge to understand the source text, and 2) the translator may have insufficient terminological, and phraseological information as well as inadequate familiarity with target genre conventions to write the target text in an acceptable way.

Medical specialties

Medical translation involves the communication of knowledge generated and needed in various specialties including:

• Internal Medicine
• Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Orthopaedics
• Paediatrics
• Psychiatry
• Surgery
• Pharmacology.

Medical translators also have to deal with knowledge from anthropology, psychology, sociology, economics and law, among many other disciplines.

Bibliografia

• Wright, S.E., Scientific, Technical, and Medical Translation, 2012, pp. 243–261.