Pharmaceutical Translation: Why Constant Communication With The Document’s Creators Is Important

In research papers, it is all too common to encounter mistakes such as inconsistent use of terminology, devices or experiment materials that are suddenly mentioned “magically” by the end of the research paper, or logical inconsistencies.

Most such mistakes are obvious by themselves. But of perhaps equal tendency to crop up are very subtle mistakes that may not seem so upon first inspection. For instance, an original document that initially seemed fairly reasonable may turn out to be not so clear or transparent—sometimes at the translator’s disadvantage.

Translators should therefore be able to take a look at a document and assess first if they actually understand it. Pharmaceutical translation is a high-risk field of the language translation business, and any ambiguity has no room in it. So before any translation is attempted or a project taken on, a rigorous assessment should first be performed.

Moreover, another challenge that one often encounters in pharmaceutical translation is that documents often contain elements that should not be translated. For example, abbreviations (such as “i.e.” and “e.g.”) that are not originally in English and, worse, are frequently misused. Further examples are terminologies in Latin, such as scientific names of microorganisms. When researchers describe the devices or computer software they used, translators might unknowingly fall into the trap of false assumption. To illustrate, for instance, a paper demonstrates how a type of software is used in the experiment. What should not be translated, as a matter of standard, are the texts found on computer displays or the words one finds on computer or device interfaces. It is fine if this is clearly stated, but sometimes it is not obvious. A phrase in the paper may refer to a plain English term, such as cabinet, and cabinet may not actually be a physical place, but a menu button on the software’s graphical user interface. It would be good if there are accompanying illustrations, but if not, there’s the rub.

These are the major reasons why access to the document’s creators is important to ensure proper pharmaceutical translation. A team of translators, in this case, may not be enough to tackle these special problems, as only the writers of the paper know what they really intend to convey. In the above-mentioned example of the word “cabinet,” the translator might not have any idea that it actually referred to a part of the software used in the experiment. Imagine how mangled and confusing the end product of the translation job would have been if the document’s author or authors were not consulted?

Granted, translators in this particular field use an array of tools to help them ensure a high quality job. Some agencies boast of having access to a host of equipment and top-notch manpower. Software such as TRADOS may help to a certain extent, but such would be not very effective if not intelligently used in conjunction with other resources available, such as a network of resource persons, human skills and the smart or dynamic application of them on specific projects, and efficient use of modern tools available, such as the internet.

By: clacandazo

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Charlene Lacandazo works for Rosetta Translation, one of the best known pharmaceutical translation agencies. It has particular strengths in medical translation and pharmaceutical translation.