Medical Translations
Medical translation is one of the most in demand, most complex and most procedural types of translation.
Most in demand because medical companies (medical device manufacturers, life science companies, research laboratories, etc.), which operate within a strict regulatory framework that governs the development and marketing of medical products in their own country, must comply with stringent rules and requirements when it comes to exporting and selling their products in a foreign market.
One of the essential requirements is that information related to medical devices and products must be available in the official language, or languages, of the country where the devices and products will be marketed. Besides the translation of material intended for users—patients and/or medical professionals—and the marketing material that accompanies product launches everywhere, medical translation also includes regulatory translations, i.e. the translation of specific documents and dossiers that are part of the approval process of these devices and products. Regulatory documents not only dictate what information must be presented, they also impose specific templates and wording that has to be used. The volume of translatable material that accompanies the launch of medical devices and products in a foreign market is thus staggering: clinical trials, scientific research, medical software and pertinent user guides, patient information, training material, marketing materials, packaging and labeling, web content, manufacturing procedures, the list goes on and on.
Most complex because the medical field encompasses an extensive range of disciplines: pharmacology, biotechnology, surgery, psychology, neuroscience, veterinary medicine, and many other areas. In these fields, highly-skilled language professionals with subject-matter expertise are required. Besides having the fundamental skills and competencies of a professional translator, medical translators must also be able to grasp complex medical concepts and procedures, master specialized medical translation is a multi-layered, multi-step process that combines human expertise, the use of advanced computer-assisted translation tools to guarantee consistent style and terminology, and formalized quality control procedures—in compliance with various ISO requirements for quality management system and for regulatory purpose—performed both on the language service provider (LSP) side and on the client side. The ISO 13485:2016 quality management standard, for example, outlines requirements not only for the organization that provides a medical device, but also for the organization that provide services related to this medical device, such as translation services provided by a LSP.
The initially translated document, as good as the translation may be, must still undergo several rounds of reviews and corrections before a final version of the document can be approved. These review cycles are performed by reviewers who are both experts in the relevant field and native speakers of the target language to ensure that the translation is linguistically correct and that it conveys the meaning and purpose of the original text precisely.
For certain products, and depending on the client and/or the regulatory boards, a back translation of the translated content may also be required. Back translation is a quality control measure where a translated text is translated back from the target language to the source language. This creates a second version of the source text, which is then compared with the original source text to verify and analyze any discrepancy between the two versions. Back translation is not restricted to the medical field and can be performed for all types of translation projects that involve sensitive or high risk information. But while this process can certainly be a useful and reliable step in the quality control process, it is also time-consuming and very expensive.
For example, a professional translator in Canada should earn at least 6,000 Canadian dollars (CAD) per month in order to live respectfully in Montréal, Québec. If the translator works 20 days a month, he/she’ll make 300 CAD per day (or 37.5 CAD per hour). On average—depending on the nature and difficulty of the translation—the medical translator translates about 1,500 words a day. If we divide the daily wage of 300 CAD into 1,500 words/day, the price per word is around 2 cents. If we add an additional external review step by a proofreader, we’ll add around 5 cents per word. Then we’ll add the translation company costs including project management. As a result, we get to at least 32 cents (CAD) per word, which is a reasonable price for a professional English into Canadian French translation. In summary, medical translation is a multi-step process that must take into consideration the constraints of a heavily-regulated medical industry, the challenges posed by the translatable content and the required languages, and mandatory quality-control procedures.
