This is a question we get asked fairly often. And the first thing we always point out is that we’re medical translators, not medical interpreters.
You see, medical translators and medical interpreters are often confused. Yes, a medical translator and an interpreter share many of the same language and communication skills. And yes, we both help healthcare professionals and patients overcome language barriers. But our roles are very different.
In this blog post, you’ll get an inside look at:
- What a medical translator does
- How a medical translator differs from a medical interpreter
- How medical translation impacts patient care
- Why this is a profession best left to the experts
- And how to become a medical translator — if you’re willing to put in the effort
In the meantime, curious to find out what services 2 real-world medical translators offer?
Medical translators and medical interpreters — different roles, same impact
You often hear “translator” and “interpreter” used interchangeably. It is confusing. Translation and interpretation both require an understanding of languages and communication. Medical translators and interpreters both work for and with healthcare professionals and patients. To confuse things even further, some medical translators also interpret, and vice versa. But a medical translator does a very different job than a medical interpreter.
A medical interpreter translates the spoken word. You will often find an interpreter in hospitals, where their role is to translate spoken conversations between healthcare providers and patients who speak different languages. Clearly, a medical interpreter plays a vital role in ensuring healthcare professionals understand patients’ needs. They also help patients understand the care they receive. A medical translator translates the written word. We have many of the same language and cultural skills as interpreters, but we use these language skills to translate written documents instead of spoken conversations. Our role and impact are perhaps less immediate than interpreters. But the documents we translate are just as vital to healthcare providers and the patients in their care.
Importance of medical translators in healthcare
Medical research generates data that leads to new treatments. But these treatments can only benefit patients globally if the documents and data about the treatments are available across languages. This is where healthcare relies entirely on medical translators.
Our work as medical translators is vital to every facet of healthcare. From research, when data is collected about novel care solutions. To regulatory approval, when a company applies to get their product licensed. Right through to marketing and pharmacovigilance, when companies promote their new product and monitor its real-world safety and performance. In other words, a product can only be developed, approved, marketed, and monitored in multiple countries if all the documents about the product are translated. Do you have medical documents that need translation?
How can you be a medical translator without a medical background?
This is another common question we get as medical translators. Healthcare professionals are the experts, after all. They read medical documents and interact with patients every day. You’d think they’d be the best placed to translate medical documents.
But the key word is translate. Physicians are trained to care for patients and to understand human health and disease. Translators are trained to translate written documents. Medical translators have further experience in translating medical documents specifically. Put simply, if a document requires translation, it is your ability to translate that matters. Not your background knowledge. (Although this helps, of course.)
Sandrine is 1 half of our fantastic duo. Here’s what she says about working as a medical translator without a medical background:
Sandrine: “Translation is an entirely separate profession. Someone may be an amazing engineer, lawyer, or architect. But that doesn’t make them a good translator. It takes specific training and experience to produce a correct translation that uses sector-specific terminology and phraseology. Besides, a medical translator doesn’t create a text from scratch. We base our translation on the source text and back it up with detailed research into the exact jargon of the sector or company.”
Some expert medical translators even bridge the gap between translation and medicine by sub-specializing in specific areas of healthcare. This gives them an understanding of the language and concepts of their chosen area that few translators can match. Curious to see what our speciality areas are?
What does a medical translator do that other translators can’t?
We’ve seen how translation is a separate profession. But what separates medical translators from other translators in the industry? Because when you think about it, all translators have language skills and a cultural understanding of their home country or region. We also have similar training, as most of us hold a master’s degree in translation. Surely any professional translator can translate medical documents, right?
Wrong. As we explained in a previous blog post, you’ve got to be careful which translator you hire to translate health documents. As Sophie, our other translator, explains, there are certain points of differentiation between a medical translator and a non-specialized translator. These are:Sophie: “Experience, health knowledge, medical language, and training. Our professional knowledge of the healthcare sector means we often don’t need help with our translation. And whenever we do, we know exactly where to look to find reliable answers to our questions. We also learn from the feedback we get from our clients — who are all healthcare professionals. In this way, (almost) every project we work on teaches us something new. Our healthcare knowledge also helps us understand what our clients want to say, so we can help them with the communication of their message in the most appropriate manner for the documents we translate.”
How do you become a medical translator?
If you think you have what it takes to become a medical translator, you must overcome certain barriers. The first is to master languages — your native language and 1 other, at least. You’ll need to develop excellent written communication skills as well. And you’ll probably need a master’s degree in translation.
The final barrier is to immerse yourself in the world of human health and patient care.
So now you know what a medical translator does, how we benefit healthcare, and why you need an expert to handle a medical translation. Plus a few things to think about if you dream of becoming a medical translator. To discover more about what services we offer as specialized medical translators, follow the link to keep reading.