TRANSLATING MEDICAL TEXTS FOR LEGAL PURPOSES: A GROWING CHALLENGE FOR COURT TRANSLATORS AND INTERPRETERS
PDF

Keywords

medical translation
legal translation
medical texts
legal language

How to Cite

KOŚCIAŁKOWSKA-OKOŃSKA, E. (2012). TRANSLATING MEDICAL TEXTS FOR LEGAL PURPOSES: A GROWING CHALLENGE FOR COURT TRANSLATORS AND INTERPRETERS. Comparative Legilinguistics, 11, 7–21. https://doi.org/10.14746/cl.2012.11.01

Abstract

Medical translation has been an area of an increased growth in the demand for translation services. It is considered to cover an extensive variety of genres, starting from hospital discharge reports, epicrises, specialist articles in medical journals, patient information leaflets (PILs) or instructions for use (IFU). It also has entered the area of activity of court translators due to e.g. migration or Poland’s membership in the EU and resultant EU-law implementation procedures (i.e., implementation of the Medical Devices Directive 93/42/EEC) and commercialisation of medical devices, thus generating the need to deal with an array of texts from the entire realm of various fields of medicine, and related disciplines (pharmacy, pharmacology, biology, etc.). Court translators are therefore facing difficulties and at the same time challenges, among which most important are the lack of medical knowledge, medical terminology (including acronyms and abbreviations) or medical phraseology in general. This entails the development of a new professional approach towards proceeding with such tasks, and requires constant improvement of skills and knowledge as well as special competencies that might be of help for translators (for this reason the notions of professionalism and translation competence shall be briefly elucidated). The focus of the article is placed on translation of medical texts seen from the point of view of translators and the purpose of translation, and not from the perspective of users, thus the approach is translator-centred.

https://doi.org/10.14746/cl.2012.11.01
PDF

References

Amabile, Teresa. 1996. Creativity in context. Westview: Boulder, Co.

Askehave, Inger and Karen Korning Zethsen. 2002. “Translating for Laymen”. In Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 10(1), 15-29. London: Routledge.

Beeby, Alison. 2000. Choosing an Empirical-Experimental Model for Investigating Translation Competence: The PACTE Model. In Intercultural Faultlines. Research Models in Translation Studies I. Textual and Cognitive Aspects, ed. Maeve Olohan, 43-55. Manchester: St Jerome.

Bell, Roger. 1991. Translation and Translating. Theory and Practice. London and New York: Longman.

Englund Dimitrova, Birgitta. 2005. Expertise and Explicitation in the Translation Process. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Gouadec, Daniel. 2007. Translation as a profession. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Hansen, Gyde. 1997. Success in Translation. In Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 5(2): 201-210. London: Routledge.

Harris, Brian and Bianca Sherwood. 1978. Translating as an Innate Skill. In Language, Interpretation and Communication, eds. David Gerver and H. Wallace Sinaiko, 155-170. New York & London: Plenum.

Hatim, Brian. and Ian Mason. 1997. The Translator as Communicator, London & New York: Routledge.

Hewson, Lance and Jacky Martín. 1991. Redefining Translation. The variational approach. London: Routledge.

Hoof van, Henri. 1998. The Language of Medicine: A Comparative Ministudy of French and English. In Translation and Medicine, ed. Henry Fischbach, 49-65.Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Jakobsen, Arnt Lykke. 2002. Translation drafting by professional translators and by translation students. In Empirical Translation Studies Process and Product, ed. Gyde Hansen, 191-193. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.

Kasprowicz, Małgorzata. 2010. Handling Abbreviations and Acronyms in Medical Translation. Translation Journal, vol. 14, No 2. http:// translationjournal.net/journal/52abbreviations.htm.

Kiraly, Don. 1997. Think-Aloud Protocols and the Construction of a Professional Translator Self-Concept. In Cognitive Processes in Translation and Interpreting, eds. Joseph H. Danks et al., 137-160. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage.

Kussmaul, Paul. 1995. Training the Translator. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Lörscher, Wolfgang. 1991. Translation Performance, Translation Process, and Translation Strategies. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.

McMorrow, Leon. 1998. Breaking the Greco-Roman Mold in Medical Writing: The Many Languages of 20th Century Medicine. In Translation and Medicine, ed. Henry Fischbach, 13-27. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Neubert, Albrecht. 2000. Competence in Language, in Languages, and in Translation”. In Developing Translation Competence, eds. Christine Schäffner and Beverly Adab, 3-18. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Nord, Christiane. 1991. Textanalyse und Übersetzen. Heidelberg: Julius Groos.

O’Neill, Marla. 1998. Who Makes a Better Medical Translator: The Medically Knowledgeable Linguist or the Linguistically Knowledgeable Medical Professional? A Physician’s Perspective. In Translation and Medicine, ed. Henry Fischbach, 69-80. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

PACTE. 2003. Building a Translation Competence Model. In Triangulating Translation: Perspectives in Process Oriented Research, ed. Fabio Alves, 43-66. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

PACTE. 2009. Results of the Validation of the PACTE Translation Competence Model: Acceptability and Decision Making. In Across Languages and Cultures, 207-230. Vol. 10. No. 2.

Resurreccio, Vicent Montalt and Maria Gonzalez Davies. 2007. Medical Translation Step by Step. Manchester: StJerome.

Risku, Hanne. 1998. Translatorische Kompetenz. Kognitive Grundlagen des Übersetzens als Expertentätigkeit. Tubingen: Stauffenburg Verlag.

Sternberg, Robert. 1999. Cognitive Psychology. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Tirkkonen-Condit, Sonia. 1992. The Interaction of World Knowledge and Linguistic Knowledge in the Processes of Translation: a think-aloud protocol study. In Translation and Meaning. Part Two, eds. Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and Marcel Thelen, 433-440. Maastricht: Euroterm.

Tirkkonen-Condit, Sonia. 1996. What is in the Black Box?. In Übersetzungswissenschaft im Umbruch, eds. Angelika. Lauer et al., 251-257. Tübingen: Günter Narr Verlag.

Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

EU directives:

Medical Device Directive (Directive 93/42/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 1993 on medical devices).

In Vitro Diagnostics Directive (Directive 98/79/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 1998 on in vitro diagnostic medical devices.

In Vitro Diagnostics Directive (Directive 98/79/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 1998 on in vitro diagnostic medical devices.

Active Implantable Device Directive (Directive 90/383/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 1990 on active implantable medical devices).

Human Medicines Directive (Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November 2001 on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use).