MEDICAL TRANSLATOR TRAINING

The medical translation training programme presented in this paper was originally designed in 2008 (Karwacka 2012). The programme has been evolving since to address the needs of translation students more adequate-ly and to accurateadequate-ly reflect the reality of the medical translation market.

The programme was originally based on the generic diversity of medi-cal translation discourse, which seems to be the most justified approach (cf. Keresztes 2013). As students gained more expertise and confidence, they progressed to more complex and more specialised texts. Conse-quently, we started with texts designed for lay recipients and later worked with texts written by medical professionals for medical professionals. The programme is still genre-based – the introductory course covers the fol-lowing texts: brochure, ICf, package insert, product characteristics, case history, discharge summary, imaging reports and scientific articles. The advanced course focuses on the expert–expert communication and – in the revised version of the course – mastering medical terminology. One of the new features of the course (introduced in 2016) is a glossary project, in which students collaborate as a group to compile a bilingual glossary of medical terms they encountered in translation assignments. The glossary is developed and verified by the whole group and the course supervisor.

As a result, the students develop a tool they can use and expand later in their individual careers as medical translators.

I have recently asked course participants for feedback and informa-tion on the most challenging aspects of medical translainforma-tion. The results indicate that a large part of students (or graduates) find the following tasks most useful: terminology exercises (66% respondents consider them very useful) and tasks focusing on practicing isolated translation problems (93% respondents consider them very useful) such as avoid-ing calques. That is why the focus on those two aspects has been an important factor in revising the course*. What is more, most

respond-* The respondents were asked to mark how useful they consider the following task types (not useful, fairly useful, very useful): terminology exercises, translating texts

difficult) and with producing target texts which are both accurate and natural in terms of target language use (40% of respondents indicated that it is difficult or very difficult). That is why post-editing tasks are rec-ommended in the course. They also indicated that terminology research and finding reliable sources was challenging (40% of respondent indi-cated that it is difficult or very difficult)*. The full revised programme is presented in Table 2 with examples of tasks. The programme is genre-based and skills-oriented, and it is consistent with the PACTE model of translator sub-competences.

at home and discussing them in class, timed translation of short excerpts in class, reviewing a peer’s translation, watching videos or presentations on medical facts, practising how to solve specific translation problems, e.g. avoiding calques, enhanc-ing readability.

* The respondents were asked to indicate how difficult they find the following as-pects of medical translation on the scale from 1 (easy) to 5 (very difficult): dealing with concepts and disciplines I do not know/understand, terminology research and finding reliable sources, adjusting style and register to the conventions applicable to a given text type, making sure that a text is translated accurately and sounds natural in the target language, dealing with ambiguous and badly-written texts, managing to submit assignments on time.

Table 2. Medical translation training course outline StageDescription/ Course contentsExamples of tasksFocus on skills and sub-competences

Int rodu ction

characteristics of medical texts purpose of medical translation confidentiality in medical translation introduction to medical language translation strategies translation tools

group project: a report on the medical translation market – text types, problems, purpose and function of translation in the medical community Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes and roots – analysis and exercises medical terminology – exercises analysis of translated texts: how do translators solve problems? What could be improved? Are the text translated accurately and do they sound natural in the target language? pairwork/groupwork: translating short excerpts of simple medical texts, discussing possible solutions to translation problems medical English – mastering basic terminology, affixation knowing text types in medical translation identifying valuable resources for information-mining and fact checking awareness of standards, norms and conventions in medical translation knowledge of medical translation procedures and the field-specific jargon adequate use of translation shifts, avoiding calque, avoiding unjustified and unintended adaptation and paraphrase

StageDescription/ Course contentsExamples of tasksFocus on skills and sub-competences

Pat ient–

medic al p rof essio nal co mmunic atio n

patient information form, brochure (informative texts for laypersons) informed consent form (ICf) patient information leaflet (PIL)

collecting a portfolio of sample consent forms discussion: recipient needs in the communication in healthcare settings terminology exercises: practicing the use of lay vs. professional terms (term doublets) translation of ICf excerpts readability tests pairwork: reviewing each other’s translation for adapting texts to the recipient’s needs and the target culture mastering specialised and lay vocabul expectations in medical translation for lay recipients expanding the students’ command of registers in expert-lay communicatio information mining coherence and cohesion cultural concepts

StageDescription/ Course contentsExamples of tasksFocus on skills and sub-competences

Exp ert–

exper t comm unicat ion in t he m edic al co mmuni ty

drug registration – product characteristics and PIL medical files – discharge summary imaging test reports scientific papers

comparison of English and Polish PILs against product characteristics – critical analysis group project: research into drug registration process – find out what has to be done and what text types need to be translated translation of excerpts from pharmaceutical/drug registration texts translating names of institutions translating excerpts from discharge summaries pairwork: editing a partner’s translation of a discharge summary translating excerpts from scientific articles medical language – institutional terminology and jargon text types and functions intertextuality in medical translation developing language skills: terminology (systems approach, with particular focus on polysemic terms, anatomical orientation, eponymy) grammatical shifts in translation medical classifications and controlled terminologies information mining and fact-checking using adequate strategies to produce a publishable rendition of a research paper focus on medical background knowledge

StageDescription/ Course contentsExamples of tasksFocus on skills and sub-competences pairwork: editing a partner’s translation of a scientific paper

Qua lity m ana gem ent quality management in medical translation (assurance, assessment, verification, translation, review, proofreading)

groupwork: find out what quality assurance models are applied in medical translation groupwork: translation project simulation of a medical translation project, where a project manager assigns roles and tasks: –translation –review –proofreading (consider backtranslation or parallel translation) mastering medical language knowledge of norms and standards instrumental sub-competence psychophisiological sub-competence

Examples of tasks