Medical translation services: tips and tricks

You are fluent in two languages, and consider making an attempt to translate a medical document on your own. Why spending money and hire a professional agency, if you just can open a dictionary and proceed with a translation?

Before you’ll make a decision to proceed with a medical translation without employing a professional agency assisting with medical translation services, we recommend you to take into consideration the following:

– Medical translation is not just about terminology. It is more about putting together properly and carefully chosen words and phrases in order to produce a meaningful correct reproduction of the source text in a foreign language.

– If you open a dictionary, you’ll often see numerous translations of this or that word. Do you know exactly which one you should choose? In order to pick up one right word out of ten or more possible translation options you have to be familiar with specifics of particular medical field. If you are not, the chances you chose the correct translation are really low.

– Improperly chosen word in a dictionary will cause the distortion of the medical text meaning, resulting in misleading readers, who are mostly doctors or medical employees. This, consequently, may cause making wrong diagnosis, prescribing incorrect treatments or medications and acutely affect a patient’s health condition.

– Translating such medical materials as user manuals of imported medical devices is a much more serious issue than you think it is, because, in addition to required knowledge of medical terminology, you should be familiar with specifics of technical terminology as well. Inaccurate translation can lead to improper medical equipment operation, and cause irreversible break down of the expensive medical devices.