2015

Translating doctors: Understanding and translating

Understanding of the information we communicate is crucial to be able to communicate. It might sound too obvious, but if you think for a second you’ll remember problems being generated by this. Our experiences doing business and in our personal lives will confirm that comprehending is a key in any kind of communication, and stays true it comes to health, and medicine. In those cases precision can be lifesaving, and not just figuratively. If asked how capable you are of communicating with precision about health issues, what would you answer?

Don’t answer just yet, but pick a random medical paper, read a paragraph, and try to rephrase it. Most of us will not be able to reword its content because of a lack of a medical background. We will even struggle if we have to describe how an illness such as a cold or cancer works. But we would like your doctors to comprehend, be able to reword in a very precise manner all this information. And furthermore, you would want him to comprehend all the medical being published in whatever the language so he can be up-to-date and your health care can improve.

This level of understanding of global medicine is online possible with a precise professional translation.

I understand the words, but I don’t understand the meaning of the sentence”

It is not the first time that you read that sentence and it is just as true when it comes to medical texts. For example, if we take a close look to this text we may find that know what “kissing” and “spine” means, and realize that we need to know the meaning “kissing spine” and then understand how it relates to “spinous processes”, and eventually how it fits into the whole text, and how the same meaning can be conveyed in the langue into which we are translating.

Translation is rewriting into another language

Knowing by heart the terminology is not enough to understand thoroughly the meaning of a text, a deep and professional understanding of the specific medical field is required so the relations between the words can be comprehended in both the source language of the text and the target language into which we want to translate it. This is why medical translators and editors need to have education, training, and work experience in the relevant areas of medicine.

AT DTS, we take case-based approach, and to ensure the best outcome we trust on our team of specialized medical translators, as well as in a system of checks and balances that ensures that the most suitable choices are made from the selection of project manager to the final proofreading. It is thanks to this system that we can provide a full-service medical translation service of the highest quality.

 

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