More than terminology: medical translation training

Abstract

Due to the rapid scientific and technological breakthroughs and the surge of publications in the healthcare and medical sector, medical translation is a much-needed specialisation, and data suggest that it is one of the top industry sectors (ELIS 2021, 2022). Medical translation happens in a myriad of healthcare contexts, such as pharmaceutical companies, NGOs, governmental institutions, hospitals and practices, to name just a few.

Medical translation is mainly thought of as highly specialised and terminologically challenging, but medical translation is not restricted to highly specialised genres and its challenges are not limited to terminology (Montalt 2012: 1). Translated medical texts can vary in terms of the target audience (expert-to- expert communication, expert-to-layperson communication, or vice-versa, but also in a varying degree of semi-experts), modes (including Web texts, instructional videos, television documentaries or press conferences) and communicative contexts (from education and clinical practice to commercial). Due to the specificity of medical translation, training translators on how to translate miscellaneous texts for scientific and technical purposes or general purposes (sometimes referred to as ‘general translation’) is not enough.