24 Oct Why should medical translations be done by specialists?

Medicine is global and international. However, there are differences in the diseases that are more prevalent in some parts of the world. Based on this premise, medical translation is the perfect tool for building communication bridges and spreading the messages needed to improve people’s health through new medicines and treatments. However, translation work should always be carried out by a specialist. Here are the reasons why.

Difficulties involved in medical translation

Medical translation, like any specialised discipline, presents a series of difficulties. The most common are the following:

• The terminology used in the field of medical translation encompasses terms from related disciplines, which results in a very wide range of technical terms and phrases.
• Barriers to communication. There are some specific ones but also some more general difficulties that create barriers to overcome in order to produce a proper translation.
• Translation of medical, pharmaceutical and biochemical abbreviations, among others. First of all, you need to consult with the client about whether they want to translate abbreviations and acronyms. Equivalents do not always exist, and even if you want to produce a good translation, sometimes the client prefers not to have them translated.
• Ambiguity is a barrier that stands between translators and a good medical translation. In fact, many experts debate whether to remove any ambiguity or not.
• The field of medical translation is too vast for a single translator to cover all categories. For this reason, medical translators specialise in one or two areas of the medical sciences.

At our medical translation agency, we have a wide range of specialists in different languages and specialities to provide the highest quality work possible. That is why, once we receive a medical translation assignment, we carefully select the professional who will carry it out.