Life Sciences Translation Challenges
A variety of issues have to be addressed in order to ensure that the any life sciences translation performed will be successful. Globalization’s impact on the life science industry means that there is an the increasing amount of content that must be translated – at a faster pace, into more languages, across multiple media outlets, and at an affordable cost. These factors working in tangent presents an ever growing challenge for biopharmaceutical companies looking to maximize their international reach – whether it be through research, collaboration, or sales.
Data collected by ClinicalTrials.gov (operated and maintained by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health) clearly show the international growth of clinical research. As of April 2017, 47% of registered studies were taking place outside of the United States, and 56% percent of registered studies recruiting patients were doing so outside of the United States.
Due to increased activity in emerging countries, the number of non-European languages into which scientific documents and other materials must be translated has grown considerably. Asian languages in particular present a greater challenge because not only do they use different scripts, but many of these languages are significantly unrelated to English or Western European languages. Language structure and grammar, for example between Mandarin Chinese and English, are drastically different. Moreover, there are significant cultural differences that must be addressed in terms of wording and medical concepts in general (some cultures don’t even recognize common diseases that are often discussed in the west – such as Cancer in Hmong communities). Finally, there are many levels of translation services, as well as associated costs and time spent, that must be considered when requesting linguistic services.
Where Are International Clinical Studies Performed?
As of 2015, most international clinical trials (outside of North America) are taking place in Europe, followed by East Asia, the Middle East, South America, The Pacifica Region, Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, North Asia and South Asia. Naturally, the country chosen for clinical research largely depends on the prevalence of the disease in question.
It’s not only clinical trials that have gone international – scientific collaborations have also increased in the fields of physics, astronomy, medicine and biochemistry. According to research by Caroline Wagner at Ohio State University, published international collaborations increased to 25% of all scientific publications in 2015. Although the growth in collaboration is beneficial to furthering innovation with the greatest minds from around the world, it also increases the need to speak a similar language.
While English is still considered a defacto language of international scientific research, it limits the availability of texts to all interested. In terms of clinical trials, the need for linguistic support is undoubtedly critical as subjects can not be expected to speak the native language of the researchers.
Defining Your Needs
Scientific and medical researchers and personnel responsible for content development must carefully weigh their specific project needs and content types against the different language services available to them. While for some materials it is acceptable to use machine translation, life science content is by nature more complex. Therefore, it is more likely to require human methods. So what questions should one ask before embarking on this journey?
5 Questions to Ask Before Getting Text Translated
1. What level of translation does my content require? Country regulations usually define translation requirements, but one should also consider that life science texts are by nature more demanding, making it necessary to undergo a more stringent process in order to ensure accuracy. For this reason machine methods are rarely the optimal choice.
2. What language(s) will I be translating into? One should consider whether multilingual services are required. Some countries, such as India, have multiple official and national languages, and thus multilingual projects are common.
3. Who is my target audience? Taking into account the level of education and cultural perspective of your target audience is critical. While most life science texts are highly technical, some, such as patient informed consent forms, must contain very specific information but be written at a level that can be understood by everyone.
4. Will I need to culturally adapt or linguistically validate my content? Localization and cultural adaptation is a minimum requirement for most types of life science texts, especially those used in a clinical setting. In contrast, linguistic validation is a requirement only for certain types of patient-related materials such as quality of life patient questionnaires.
5. Is back translation always necessary? Forward and back translation are not always required, however back translation is extremely useful in ensuring that the original meaning of the text is not altered. Thus, when translating a text for which accuracy is extremely critical, it is a good idea to perform both types of translation.
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