Undoubtedly, choosing the right professional translation services is not an easy task, especially if you are new in the medical and clinical trial business or have met issues with your current translation service provider. Your company may still not be aware of the full list of requirements that should ask for and is certainly on the way to find out what is important and relevant for their particular industry.

First of all, you have to focus on what kind of medical and clinical trial documentation needs to get translated in your company and these criteria will define the specialized range of translation services you may require. The more detailed information you provide to your language service provider, the better they can assist you and asses if they could be of any help for you (if honesty is also a priority there). For example, at NN Translations we translate a wide range of documents for the life sciences industry including:

Medical

  • Medical device manuals
  • Product information, instructions and labelling for medical and dental equipment and supplies
  • Medical reports
  • User manuals
  • Reference guides

Clinical practice and research

  • Protocol synopses
  • Patient cards
  • Informed consent forms
  • Patient information
  • Adverse events forms
  • Documents required for clinical trials
  • Clinician scales
  • Instructions for use

We also offer linguistic validation and pharmacovigilance services

Pharmaceutical

  • Summaries of product characteristics
  • Patient leaflets
  • Labelling
  • Material safety data sheets (MSDS)

We also offer Readability testing of PILs

Marketing

  • Brochures
  • Presentations
  • Life science website content

Of course, this detailed list of documents may not be sufficient for your translation needs and you have to discuss it with your potential language provider to obtain more information if your specific material for translation may still be feasible.

The next thing you have to consider is the pool of medical translators and medical specialists (if any) the translation company is working with. Ask questions such as:

  • What kind of translators do you work with? Do they translate into their mother tongue only?
  • Do they have the relevant qualifications and experience in the industry we are focused on?
  • Do you use proofreaders and/or editors?
  • How do you guarantee translation quality?
  • Do you use other professional consultants if needed such as doctors, researchers, etc.?
  • What kind of translation software do your work with?

The translators should always be meticulous, insisting on the exact meaning for words in both source and target language. They should work with attention to both factual detail and style, writing in a way that is appropriate to the sector and the type of document. The team should also use the latest software and computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools to produce work that is consistent with regard to terminology and formatting.

The language service provider should have a rigorous translation and checking process. Once translated the medical and pharmaceutical translations should be always proofread and edited by a second proficient translator and checked by a professional consultant (doctor, researcher, medical consultant if required by client).

Also, make sure to provide all details about your translation project such as reference materials, glossaries and website information where translators could further investigate terminology and target group (if the text is intended for patients or doctors). You may also write down a descriptive brief so translators will be well familiar in advance with your expectations and requirements.

Do you have a medical or clinical trial translation project?

Do not hesitate to contact us for more information on how we can help you with your translation needs today! Go to www.nntranslations.com

Please, share with us what topics in the translation or cognitive debriefing sphere you are interested in and we would be happy to write an article on the subject.