Translation in the Medical Industry

by Melissa Munroe Melissa Munroe at Research Medics

Anyone who does not want to practice as a physician can always turn to a career of medical writing or translation if he knows more than one language. Although medical translation provides a big opportunity to earn a profitable income, it has its own challenges.

A lot of people are surprised to find that a medical translation field is a diverse one; many believed that a translation can work on any or all types of projects, however this is not the case. Most translators work on specific fields like medical, finance and law and its make sense because you cannot expect a translator to do his work well unless he has a lot of knowledge about a particular industry. Even though are many general translators, most translators focus on a particular field.

Medical translation is one of the most difficult and responsible professions to work in, not least because a single medical document can drastically effect the lives of patients.

Standards of Quality in Medical Translations

Medical translation has a much stricter, higher quality standard associated with it because of the element of risk it carries. The medical translator not just has to be fluent in multiple languages but should also have quite a lot of knowledge about medical concepts, terminologies and dosage quantities. Even a tiny mistake can result in death for the patient.

The greatest demand for translators is in the medical research industry where volunteers are recruited to test out a new drug or medical procedure. These volunteers, many of them which speak foreign language, need translation in order to make informed decisions about their medical care and safety. Hence there is a great pressure on the professional translation services provider to get the job done right.

Back Translation

The translation process in the medical writing service not just take the regular quality assurance tests like proofreading and editing of the document but also has does a back translation. Although not required in most other industries, a back translation in the medical industry is a must. M any6 people who come for clinical research trials are very unfamiliar with the English language, so the responsibility of a translator is not just to ensure that the text is converted to another language that is easily readable by these individuals but to make sure that it creates no misunderstandings among the patients as well. So in a way being technically correct is much more important than translating the entire text word by word.

A medical translation work is profitable and is not affected by recession; it is however a job that requires a lot of responsibility in the part of the translator.