Getting Medical Translations Right

In most translation scenarios, it isn’t too hard to make your translated materials match the tone and meaning of the original articles. Even things like advertisements that often include idioms and sayings can be translated “culturally” to make sense in other languages and for diverse audiences.

Medical translations are a whole other animal. When critical medical information needs to be translated into a new language, it can’t be translated like anything else. The translation needs to be accurate not only in the language that is used, but also in the intent. For this reason, companies that are serious about medical translations, like TRAFFIK, use highly specialized translators that are also healthcare professionals to bring a care provider’s point of view to the translation.

Why is it so important? Here’s a scenario for you. Say you have a patient that travels to China, falls ill and gets medical treatment there. When they return to the United States with their medical documentation, a traditional translation of the materials will only give you half of the story. What steps were taken abroad can only be clearly understood when they are translated and interpreted by a medical professional.

This is critical because you want to know exactly what happened while your patient was getting treatment abroad so that you can continue the course of treatment—or correct it. Imagine if your traditional translation missed an important detail about your patient’s treatment—the results would not be good.

Furthermore, these services are also vital to insurance companies that need to verify claims made for treatment in different countries. Getting a clear understanding of the care that took place will enable you to more accurately identify covered services and process the claim more efficiently.

The bottom line is that accurate medical translation services aren’t just necessary to any healthcare professional, they are pretty rare to come by. TRAFFIK Health has over 20 years of history providing accurate medical translations for our clients. If you have an upcoming medical translation need—or just want to be prepared for the eventuality—give us a call and let’s discuss (in the language of your choice).