Medical Translation Service: Finding the Ideal Translation Process

Medical Translation Service: Finding the Ideal Translation Process

Medical Translation Service: Finding the Ideal Translation Process 5967 3978 Accelingo

Subject-Matter Expertise Defines the Medical Translation Service

The nature of a medical translation service allows for little to no creativity in the translation process, but needs to evolve and take into account recent regulations and market demands. Establishing a simple and straightforward translation process for your medical content is crucial for your business growth.

What Stands Behind a Professional Medical Translation Service?

Professional medical translation is needed in several areas related to medical and pharmaceutical services. It includes medical documentation such as training materials, bulletins, medical trials, medical device manuals, and labeling to name a few.

With the strict regulations of the industry and the constantly changing requirements and updates in the field of healthcare, it is of paramount importance to have accurately translated medical content in case you want to scale up globally.

Should your life-science-related startup aims to grow within the EU, you need to take into account the new regulatory framework in the field of medical devices: European Union Medical Device Regulations (MDR) – Regulation (EU) 2017/745 and Regulation (EU) 2017/746. The new legislation sets higher standards for the translation of product documentation and demands recognition of the importance of professional high-quality work of the translation agencies used by the business.

A professional medical translation service is invaluable when it comes to technical and medical documentation, as the results of improper translation could not only compromise the performance of a given product, but also threaten the life of the end user.

A translation agency specialized in medical document translation is aware of the specifications of the overall medical translation process. The expertise of such a partner can not only significantly reduce costs and the time needed for completing a medical translation project, but also support your market penetration strategy efforts by offering you expert advice, as well as high-quality, accurate and consistent translations of all your medical content and beyond.

A proper medical translator is a subject-matter expert in the field, most often with relevant medical education and substantial knowledge both of medical terminology and industry regulations.

According to a Study on the Quality of Medical Translation Produced by Translators With and Without a Medical Background, translators with a combined medical and linguistic background make fewer terminological, logical, stylistic, and grammatical mistakes.

Hence, these are the type of professionals that you need to employ for your medical translations in order to guarantee coherence and high value of your documentation. A professional medical translation service will make sure that the translators they assign to your account meet the requirements of your project.

What Are the Important Components of the Medical Translation Process?

The medical translation process includes several steps that need to be performed in order for the final product to be ready for market introduction. These are:

  • Extracting the text to be translated from the source format
  • Translating content to the target language(s)
  • Editing of the translated content to ensure that terminology, style, and voice of the original text are observed
  • Publishing the translation in the original format or in the format required by the customer
  • Proofreading the final version of the translated text to ensure compliance with style, grammar, and proper display of the requested file format
  • In-country review by a native speaker who is a subject-matter expert in the field to guarantee the accuracy, fluency, and overall quality of the translation

The process is time-consuming and requires the participation of all interested parties to secure timely completion, but a medical translation service provider will be able to guide you through it.

It is important that you prepare your medical documentation following the specific industry requirements and writing with translation in mind. A high-quality source document will facilitate the work of the translation teams and give room for less inconsistency and possible mistakes.

Setting up an internal company standard for the writing of medical content divided by types of texts will significantly improve your time to market both in the local and foreign markets. A clear, simple, concise user manual, for example, will be easier to understand by the end users and will require less time for translation since no clarifications will be necessary.

A coherent quality control process established by the translation agency is the other essential component that will guarantee a smooth translation process. An stringent quality management strategy prior to, during, and after the actual translation is key to providing accurate medical translations.

Evolve to Facilitate Growth

If the medical translation service provider your startup has utilized so far is working, it doesn’t mean there is no room for improvement. The field of medicine, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals is rather dynamic, with constant upgrades of technology and updates of the legislation regulating it.

You need to be able to openly discuss with your LSP your particular needs and aims as they evolve in time. Taking on board new staff members or making technological improvements within your or your vendor’s company can significantly affect the overall translation process.

A sophisticated translation memory (TM) tool, for example, can facilitate translation in terms of higher accuracy and lower turnover time.

Software allowing the client to review the translated content prior to being sent for multilingual desktop publishing will allow changes to be made ASAP if needed and will save time and efforts. Such a step may be a break in the usual flow of the translation process, but it is definitely leading to its improvement.

The field of medical translation is complex enough to offer a complex approach to its implementation. It is necessary to find a reliable and experienced translation agency that is ready to adjust its procedures to your specific needs while maintaining the industry high-level of proficiency.

If you are looking for the right medical translation service provider, our free whitepaper “How to Choose a Translation Company That’s Right for Your International Expansion Strategy” will make it easier for you to decide whom to choose.

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