As translators, we have to take our responsibilities very seriously. When we’re translating legal documents, the slightest error could have serious and potentially costly consequences for our clients. The same can be said when translating product information and manuals, where the wrong choice of words could give rise to product liability or personal injury claims. However, there are also instances where the accuracy of our translations could be the difference between life and death.

As well as medical translations, we have also produced public health translations for charities and other organisations operating abroad. In this instance, transparent and credible communication is the key to getting the message across. That means there’s no room for ambiguity and certainly no room for error.

The importance of public health information in the real world

Nobody enjoys being injured or ill. If you give people information about how to protect themselves, more often than not they will. However, providing relevant information alone is not always enough. You also have to make sure it’s in a language that the target audience is comfortable with, which is not always the official language in the area you’re targeting.

One example is the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa. One of the biggest obstacles to effectively managing the outbreak was disseminating the information in a way that people would understand. Initially, most of the information for local people was produced in English or French, when in reality only 20 percent of the people in the affected areas spoke either of those languages. That led to widespread miscommunication, with 30 percent of people in Sierra Leone believing Ebola was an airborne disease and 40 percent thinking that salt-water baths were an effective cure.

Translation errors undermine your messaging

Vaccine hesitancy has been recognised as one of the greatest threats to global health in 2019 by the World Health Organization. Over the last few years, the number of people who think vaccines are safe has fallen sharply, and in fact, a global survey of attitudes found that in Western Europe, only 59 percent of people think vaccines are safe, falling to just 50 percent in Eastern Europe. This has led to several major measles outbreaks in a number of countries.

To stem the rising tide of vaccine hesitancy, public health authorities have been disseminating information en masse. In New York City, there are several ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities who do not vaccinate for religious reasons, and that has left them vulnerable to outbreaks.

To increase vaccination rates, the New York State Department of Health produced leaflets in Yiddish. However, according to CNN, the translations were “practically indecipherable”, with spelling, phrasing and grammatical mistakes, as well as incorrect and outdated terminology to describe the symptoms of measles. The errors have been blamed on Google Translate.

Trust matters

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Yiddish messaging in the above example fell flat. Community leaders suggested that “if they can’t even put an ad together right, how are we supposed to believe their science”.

Trust is vital if public health campaigns are to succeed. With so many different sources of information available, you must establish your credibility and use language that people understand, and use it correctly, to really make an impact.

With so much at stake, there’s no other choice!

At Linguistica International we have decades of experience in government, health and medical translation and work to rigorous quality control standards to get your public health translation right. Our quality control process is certified to ISO 9001:2015 standards. To discuss your requirements, please call 02392 987 765 or email info@linguistica-international.com today.

Like most occupations, being a translator is a process of continuous learning. You can never know everything about a language and there will always be words and cultural nuances you encounter that you’ve not seen before. As a general rule of thumb, the more professional experience you have, the better translator you’re likely to be, but even the most experienced translators still have to put the work in to improve their translation skills.

So, what can you do to become the best translator you can be? Here are five simple tips to give your translation skills a boost.

1. Never stop reading

Many of the world’s most celebrated authors put their success as writers down to their insatiable appetite for reading. Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, and William Shakespeare, author of… we’ll let you fill in the gaps there… famously read everything within reach. As language specialists, translators should do the same.

Reading as much of your foreign and native language as possible is a simple but effective way to keep your translations current, contextual and accurate. Reading local newspapers, books and journals in your specialist field will allow you to absorb the jargon, trends and events within your chosen language and your field of study. Reading articles translated by your peers and esteemed translators in your field is also a great way to pick up some tricks of the trade.

2. Write your own words

Translators write day in and day out professionally, but many don’t spend time writing anything original. Doing some writing of your own and committing it to paper is an excellent way to practice picking your words and formulating cogent phrases. Once you’ve finished, critically evaluating your writing and editing it where necessary will help to improve your writing and translation skills.

3. Maintain your source language proficiency

Immersing yourself in your target language is a sure way to improve your translation skills, but not if you start to lose your native language as a result. People tend to assume it’s impossible to lose your native language, but like any skill, if you don’t practice it regularly, it will deteriorate over time.

As anyone who has lived abroad for a prolonged period of time will know, the more immersed you are in another language, the more foreign your own language starts to feel. Reading in your native language, listening to podcasts, speaking to friends and family on the telephone and travelling back to your home country regularly will all give your skills a boost.

Here’s an excellent podcast on this subject.

4. Fine-tune your specialist knowledge

At Linguistica International, all of our translators have professional experience in the fields in which they translate. But that alone is not enough to keep them up to date with the latest trends and terminology in their areas of specialisation. Reading industry news and journals and attending conferences all help to build their expertise in those fields and maintain their position as an authority within their chosen subject areas.

5. Translate the other way around

If you usually translate your native language into your secondary language, try doing it the other way around. Doing so will not only improve your knowledge of the relationship between the two languages, but it could also pave the way for you to perform two-way translations professionally, which will further expand the range of projects that are available to you.

Are you a talented translator?

We’d love to hear from you. At Linguistica International, we translate into more than 200 languages and provide translation services for some of the leading brands in the UK. If you’re looking for professional translation work, just give us a call on 02392 987 765 or send your CV to info@linguistica-international.com.