Accuracy is Vital in Medical Document Translation

It doesn’t take too much imagination to appreciate what could happen if medical documents or information is not translated correctly. The potential for this to happen is because we all live in an increasingly globalised world where people are moving from one country to another to travel, live and work more than ever. Not only that, but many pharmaceuticals and drugs are manufactured in one country and distributed all over the world. Medical instruments are bought and used wherever clinics and hospitals exist and very often these can only be used properly as long as instructions are translated accurately. The list of reasons why accuracy is so vital in medical document translation goes on and on.

It is always important to choose a translation service provider carefully and make sure that they have experience in the type of translation work that you want completed. However, there are a lot of generalist translation companies that may not have the expertise to translate medical documents or legal documents accurately. Both legal document translation services and medical document translation services need to be provided by experts in both the linguistic field as well as the legal or medical field as well. 

Medical document translators are specialised as they will need to be fluent in at least one other language other than English as well as have sufficient medical knowledge or knowledge of medical terminology in order to not make mistakes when translating what is required. The professional medical translator is likely to be in high demand and it is an exacting job as the translator will probably have to spend considerable time researching the subject matter, especially if it is a medical manual or instructions for a specific medical technique.

When choosing a suitable translation service provider it would be best to check out the larger companies first as they are more likely to employ a team of specialised translators, whereas an individual freelance is more likely to be a generalist. This is fine for relatively simple documents like birth and marriage certificate translations, but is not sufficient for medical document translations here accuracy and in depth knowledge is so much more critical.

Does Your New Business Need Professional Translation Services?

Many individuals, couples and partners seek to start up a small business of their own, often because they have grown out of working as an employee, or they think they have just the right business ideas and think it is a way to make a decent living. There are so many aspects that a new business has to grapple with that some things tend to take second stage. One of these things is the need to translate key items of communication in their business into another language.

This sounds perfectly obvious to anyone considering expanding overseas, but this is rarely something that a new business actually contemplates doing as soon as they start up. But how about potential customers and clients who live all around you, in small or large communities where English is not necessarily the main language used? In fact, there are few western cities these days where a cosmopolitan cocktail of languages is not spoken.

Ex colonial countries such as France and Britain have attracted many of their former colonial nations’ population to study, work and take up residence. Then there are large migrant communities in places like Germany, Norway, Canada, the U.S. and Australia. What attracts migrants to these nations is the economic opportunities in their new home or simply because they have fled oppression and war.

Just who are going to be your customers when you start your new business? If you leave these naturally non English speakers out then you may be denying yourself a large percentage of the business pie which could go instead to a rival business which might just take advantage of your naivety.

If you are indeed going to benefit from any amount of translation, it could range from simple things like notices on your door or window, information on your website, a menu if you run a restaurant and so the list is endless. Of course, if you are going to start up an Indian restaurant and specialise in North Indian cuisine, having a menu available in Hindi or Bengali makes more sense than having one in Cantonese or Thai!

There is an obvious limit to how much money you spend on translation tasks if you are just starting up but that should have been part of your business plan before you started and if you live in a multicultural and multilingual social milieu then hoping that you can get away with English alone doesn’t make financial sense in the long run.

Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to take short cuts on translation quality. If you do have a potentially large market which speaks a particular language, engaging a professional translator who has the expertise in that language is important. If you are looking for translation services in Australia then make sure he or she has NAATI translation credentials and in other countries there are comparable bodies that you can trust.