Technical translation Services

Why most translators prefer to stay away from working with technical texts?

Because it is one of the most difficult types of translation. What makes it so hard and what one has to keep in mind while doing the technical translation? Let's have a closer look.

Not a simple text

One of the most distinctive features of technical texts is the abundance of special terminology. An interpreter has a hard job to choose the terms in the target (translated to) language so that they are as precise as in the source (translated from) language and have the only one meaning.

However, it is by far not the only hurdle translators have to overcome. Technical texts are full of formulas and cliches common only for these specific texts. Be it an instruction for engineers or a medical record, these texts are written in a special style: it excludes emotionality and personality, is 100% accurate and unambiguous.

A person who performs the translation of a technical text should not only be competent in translating but also proficient in the subject he or she is working with. If an interpreter does not fully understand the subject, he or she cannot guarantee the high quality of the result, as even slight misunderstanding in such text may lead to distortions of meaning. As a result, the whole translation may look unprofessional and even restrict the normal flow of the user's working process.

Technical descriptions: where the figures come in

We all understand that technical description is something very specific and difficult to comprehend for the unprepared user. But what it really is? In fact, technical descriptions are detailed discussions of the physical aspects of a thing (machinery, appliance or procedure). Often they go with lots of numbers, measurements, qualities etc. Indeed, such descriptions rarely are big – most often they are parts of other texts, like manuals or guidebooks, but they require much more efforts than other translation types.

Additionally, the translator has to always keep in mind the target audience of the text. For example, translation for an advanced engineering textbook will be full of highly technical terms, while the same description for a user's manual will consist mainly of common words familiar to laymen.

Manuals: complication and simplicity combined

Manuals are the most common forms of technical texts, and almost always have to be translated to other languages. They range from the household appliance manuals for homeowners to the factory equipment manuals for machinery operators. All manuals prompt a user to fulfill some actions, and any inaccuracy of the translation may end up provoking serious consequences, up to the fatal outcome. That's why translating agencies often hire an experienced engineer to proofread and edit the resulting text.

The trick to manual translation which come with technical appliances and medical equipment for the market is that while being technical texts, they are intended for every adult reader, regardless of their education and knowledge. For that reason the language of the translated manual should be easily comprehensible without the loss of meaning.

The most difficult part

To err is human, but translators don't have the right to make mistakes. While doing technical translation, they have to be especially alert when dealing with polysemy, as well as highly specialized terminology. At the same time, around 50% of technical translation mistakes are caused by the difference in grammar structures of source and target languages. That's why competence and attention are two main virtues of any translator.

 

Further Reading

Medical Translation: Brief Description and Challenges Involved

Technical Translation and its Challenges

 

Technical translation Services

Medical translation Services and Pitfalls

Medical translation Services

For the last decades, the demand for medical translation services has significantly risen, but the number of qualified specialists is catastrophically small – and here is why. Medical translation is especially important as it directly concerns the life and health of a person. One small mistake – and the therapy course may get into the wrong direction. Translators not only are afraid of taking this responsibility, but also do not have enough knowledge and skills to work with medical documents.

To make the high quality medical translation, a translator has to be highly proficient in the medical sphere. Ideally, to fully understand the contents of the source language document and translate it correctly into the target language, he or she should major in both medicine and linguistics.

Medical record translation: why people need it?

Not everyone needs their medical history translated. However, if somebody is going to receive treatment or any other kind of medical help abroad, this issue becomes very important. The medical record may also be required while buying insurance in foreign or international companies. Actually, it is the most laborious and difficult process in the medical translation sphere, as it implies translating the whole medical history, including procedural records, test and examination results, such as X-rays, MRI, CT scan etc.

Sometimes translators also have to deal with applications to foreign clinics, e.g. translating inquiries about the possibility to do a certain surgery or type of specific treatment. In this case, the clinics may require only some parts of medical record which concern just the specified problem or disease.

Pitfalls of procedural translation

There are many kinds of procedural documents, from test results to surgery reports, and all of them have lots of traps for translators. First, a person who deals with such documents has to remember that they are frequently created according to strict rules, and sometimes the layout and contents of such documents are defined by laws – and in different countries they may differ.

Then, various countries may use different units to present the test results, and this is not just about the metric and imperial systems, but also about the local medical traditions in each country. There are still debates between scholars whether translators have to convert the units or just leave them as they are. However, the practice shows that patients ask about converting the units so that foreign doctors can figure out the test results. That means that to make correct conversions, medical translators also need to be proficient in chemistry and physics.

Terms and abbreviations: worst enemies

Documents from the medical sphere have the biggest density of terms which can even gather into long synonymic groups. A translator has to understand all the terms in the source text and find their correct correspondences in the target language. In addition, proficiency in terms of Latin and Greek origin is essential for a person performing the medical translation.

Another factor that creates difficulties is constant development of medicine and, eventually, the steady arising of new terms. For example, the number of oncology terms up to date is around 35,000 and growing, marking the development of this branch of medicine.

Next, the already mentioned differences in medical traditions of different countries may be quite problematic for the translator, as classification of human organs and body systems may differ. For example, what is considered one organ in one language may be two different organs in another, or completely not be specified as an organ.

Translating abbreviations is also a hard game. Doctors use thousands of abbreviations to denote medical procedures, diseases, pathogens or medications. What is worse, same abbreviations may have different meanings in different medical spheres. A good translator has to make out the meaning of the abbreviation from the context and give its full form in the translated text.