Subject matter of medical texts translation
Medical texts of any level are subject to translation into another language: epicrises, protocols of diagnostic tests or surgeries, summaries of laboratory test results, functional tests, information for patients and/or doctors, leaflets for medicines (instructions for use), treatment recommendations, as well as publications on the activities of medical institutions and scientific articles on various sections of medicine.
In total, there are 38 main sections of medicine (of the first order, such as “surgery”, “gynecology and obstetrics”, “pediatrics”, “urology”, etc.).
The number of subsections, and even more so of specific specialized areas, cannot be counted accurately.
Diversity of the lexicon of the “medical” language on the example of German and Russian medical texts
Since the “medical” language is not just a component part, but an extended modification of the main language, translations of such texts are subject to the rules of general linguistic literacy, in addition to additional rules related to the specifics of medical terminology and traditional forms (designations, expressions) accepted in a particular country.
The “medical” German and “medical” Russian languages — both rich and juicy in the “everyday” version, absorbing nomenclature terminology (in common parlance “medical Latin”), English designations and anglicisms, as well as all forms of abbreviations used in all categories — are characterized by a special variety of vocabulary.
In addition, Russified and Germanized variants of designations, such as anatomical terms borrowed from other languages, are firmly rooted. Thus, up to 12-15 expressions can be used to designate one and the same anatomical structure.
In any case, it would be a mistake to assume that medical texts are “ordinary” vocabulary interspersed with “Latin” inserts.
Anatomical terms and the International Anatomical Nomenclature
The predominant use of a modern variant of a term does not exclude older names occasionally found in various sources.
Each of these nomenclatures is based on the Latin language, using about 600 basic concepts of Latin (for the most part) and Greek (about one third of all concepts) origin. Declension and word formation are subject to the rules of “dead” Latin, which is the historically established foundation for the creation and development of anatomical nomenclature. However, the considered unchanged “medical Latin” has also fallen under the influence of the wide spread of Anglicisms in the scientific world. For example, there is a tendency to replace the spelling “oe” and “ae” in nomenclatural names with a simple “e” (Oesophagus — Esophagus). Methods of formation of nomenclature terms, rules of their declension and abbreviation are described in detail in the works devoted to the International Anatomical Nomenclature and its application.
Peculiarities of translating medical texts
In addition to the active use of heterogeneous and not always unambiguous anatomical nomenclature, medical texts are also characterized by an extraordinary variety of topics and an avalanche of new methods, technologies and devices, which are named “on the fly”.
The translator of medical texts must have such a clear understanding of the subject matter that he or she can confidently identify ambiguous terms and expressions (not forgetting the existence of “false friends of the translator”) and correctly determine their interpretation. One aspect of using medical terminology is, in addition to skills in working with the International Anatomical Nomenclature, fluency in topographical landmarks, planes and axes used in describing morphology.
The result of attempts by translators specializing in the translation of medical texts to unify disparate systems of designations of both anatomical structures and a variety of techniques and technical elements is the creation of homemade dictionaries for targeted purposes.
Applied versions of such dictionaries, being the fruit of many years of dedicated work, do not aim to delve into the etiology of concepts and assume a certain level of linguistic training, which is already required for successful translation. Every translator working with medical texts must be fluent in the units of measurement used in laboratory medicine in different countries, and, if necessary, to recalculate the relevant indicators in the more popular system of units (most often in SI). Special requirements to the accuracy of medical translations imply, as a prerequisite, that the translator maintains feedback between the client and the author of the source text. Only direct contact makes it possible to clarify the meaning of unclear or ambiguous definitions, as well as to identify possible misprints and correct them.
Quality of medical text translation
Only a small number of specialists can provide high-quality — in all respects competent and accurate[1] — translations of medical texts:
— qualified (having a thorough natural science background, using a scientific approach in their work and having many years of experience in the field),
— who know how to search for rare terms,
— knowledgeable in medical topics,
— with impeccable linguistic literacy, and
— are engaged in continuous self-training.
To ensure the high quality of medical translations, it is necessary to have all the necessary aids (the lack of specialized dictionaries of sufficient size on the market forces you to create your own dictionaries!) and a brilliant command of both living languages (more than academic training). To the above we should add serious attitude to each order and absolute confidentiality.
Real professionals in this field, meeting all these requirements, can offer high quality and accurate translation of medical texts in full compliance with the content and style of specialized information with the extension of services such as translation of laboratory values into SI, text adaptation for poorly trained readers, etc.
Translated from russian to english from: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Перевод_медицинских_текстов
