Life Science Translation: History, Significance & Future

Life science translation is similar to medical translation. It serves the same purpose as medical translation. The process deals with the personalization and adaption of the medical content, healthcare services, and other medicine-related content to improve the human life quality.

Working for translation services requires a methodology-oriented approach. Moreover, it is quite technical as well. The target audience of the life science and medical translation is mostly the researchers and the medical experts. These are the people who have great academic backgrounds, so they appreciate the clarity and lucidity in the content.

That’s why translation requires an advanced level of accuracy and quality to meet the expectations of the experts. The poor translation, incorrect terms, and omissions may result in risking human life, causing health problems and loss of resources.

A brief history of life science translation 

The twentieth century has been quite happening and hectic for the biological science industry. Things have been changed quite much. There are new technologies and developments every other day. Besides that, the healthcare experts are identifying the diagnosed diseases as quite rare and unique. Before this century, inventions, and developments were quite limited and confined.

However, the recent era has witnessed new practices and developments in nutrition, vaccination, and other healthcare practices. There are more hospitals, clinics, and products now. Companies have started to expand their pharmaceutical industries to foreign lands. The localization and globalization made the pharma industries work on translation. The industry has not looked back since then. There are a number of fields that fall under the category of biology. These are biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, food processing, environmental, zoology, and other cosmeceuticals.

The natural sciences sector comprises the organizations and the institutions which are designated for research, development, and commercialization. These are related to organisms such as human beings, plants, and other animals. However, another term used for this domain is medical translation.

Life science disciplines

Life science is an extensive field. It has a lot more disciples and sub-fields. However, these are the most important natural science disciplines that the companies require translation for

• Agrotechnology
• Biomedical engineering
• Biochemistry
• Bioengineering
• Medical imaging techniques
• Biomolecular engineering

Significance

The life science translation services have to be high-quality. It has become the necessity of the medical field. Whenever, the companies plan to launch the pharmaceutical products in a foreign market, or plan to provide the treatment to foreign customers, they have to use language which is understandable in that territory.

The biological science companies have to ensure the accuracy of the translations, or else it could be risky and disastrous for both parties. Doing harm to patients can put the company’s reputation at stake. A simple and minor mistake such as an error in the daily dose of a medicine or using the wrong word can invite unfortunate consequences. This is why the translation comes with huge responsibility and sensitivities. Professional translators should attempt these tasks to avoid errors and omissions.

The pharmaceutical and healthcare industries are regulated industries so quality and accuracy are a must-have. Besides that, translators need to understand the industry, its responsibilities, and the local regulations. There are international standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 27001, or ISO 17100 that address the translation standard and quality. These also look for information security. European and other national regulatory bodies have their particular terminology requirements and specialties.

It bridges the gap between medical people, professionals, scientists, and manufacturers worldwide. The importance of translation can never be denied.

Types of the documents that need a translation 

Pharmaceuticals

The pharmaceutical companies require a particular and expert multilingual approach to have scientific clinical trials and other research. A few of the examples include

Healthcare

Healthcare is an extremely important domain. The people who come from different territories speak different languages. Everyone doesn’t speak the same language, and neither they understand it. So, the patients who go abroad and get treatment in a foreign land need to understand their medical conditions, medical forms, and other content. They also need to communicate with the doctors and the physicians. Therefore, in order to avoid serious issues and life-taking risks, it is extremely important to translate the consent forms, prescriptions, medical records, patient questionnaires, lab tests and results, and other documents.

Medical devices

There are new inventions and surgeries on medical devices and equipment. These also need to market well in the other markets and territories. In order to make it understandable for the target audience, the packaging, labels and other content should be translated accurately. In the category of medical devices, the content that needs translation is operating the machines, maintenance, and other installation manuals. It also includes the development safety update reports and the instructions for use and regulatory compliance documents.

The tips for the high-quality translation

A right translation partner

The translation of the science of life is tough and extensive. It needs to be accurate and precise. Hence, it is significant to hire a professional language service provider who has earlier excelled in the field. The translation company should also ensure that the project is assigned to the right and expert medical translators. Both partners, the translation company and the entrepreneur, should ensure the proper systemized pattern that reduces errors and deliver a high level of quality. The experts can also implement the translation software and tools to ensure efficiency and fewer mistakes. The translation tools often have these kinds of functions.

Translation memory

The feature of the translation memory that automatically detects the old words and avoids repetition works as a life savior. It can help translators in hundreds of ways. It allows using the previous dictionary, terms, and phrases. This can ultimately reduce the time and efforts of the translators. 

Clarity and accuracy of source documents

The precision and clarity in the source documents are other significant tips to follow. There is no room for errors. The medicine and its dosage need to be defined according to the problem diagnoses. To have an accurate translation it is important that the source content is clear and without errors. The mistakes in the original files lead to a double ratio or errors in the target translation.

Multilingual termbase

The translation agency can have a multilingual termbase that the experts can integrate and use for all the languages at the same time.

Giving feedback

Another tip is about providing feedback. The customer or the company should always evaluate the translation language partner’s services. Besides that, they should provide feedback about the work experience, translators’ efforts, quality of the translation, and other important factors.

Quality assurance tools and modules to keep a check on the quality.

Establishing a workflow for the other partner helps in the easing of the process. The life science companies and translation companies should collaborate with each other for the workflow. This should include assessing the details where the translation companies consider the arrangements with translators who have been selected for the project.

Automated report

The reporting is quite time-consuming, however, the parties can save themselves some time and the project management time can be done with the automated reports and templates. The project templates also help in easing and automating the project also helps to reduce the repetitions. The templates further can help ensure that there is adherence to the naming of the projects and resources, also finding the existing resources and reusing these.

The practices for successful translation

Every process needs proper and thorough research. Things can not be started all of a sudden and randomly. Hence, the prior research is seminal.

These practices can help ease out the process and execute the translation in the best way possible.

Coordinated and responsive 

A team should be coordinated on all levels as well the team should be responsive. A strategy of ensuring the successful translation should include the variety of expertise and competencies, with the guarantee of exchangeable knowledge and idea, and also it should aim for a complete view of the project.

Standardized practices

The format of the translation is very particular and specific. The creativity in the diagnosis documents and legal files and scientific papers is quite limited. Therefore, there should be standardized practices to carry on the process. All translation files require is clarity, precision, and proper attention to the details and products.

Key Challenges 

The scientific translation is an extremely regulated area. The medical and medicine-related content has to be presented to the higher authorities for approval before they implement in a particular market. There are many guidelines, templates, and other rules that are important to list down while an attempt of translating the medical texts.

The European Union and other agencies require the companies to follow a particular set of instructions before approving the things in their territory.

Another challenging aspect for the translators is about producing the high-quality translation from the source language to the target language also ensuring that the content is patient-friendly and easily understandable.

There are a number of companies that are part of one group however, they act differently and separate while purchasing the translation services and things end as uncoordinated vendors and all. There is less consistency and quality is also promised in such scenarios.

Overcoming these challenges

The life science translation requires particular expertise and skills. This requires the medical translators who have excelled in the job earlier. There should be a demo and testing session to ensure the translators have earlier worked on the same tasks and are familiar with the conventions and norms of life science.

The approved and certified medical translators have a better insight into the usage and implementation of the medical dictionaries and other medical encyclopedias and other reference material. This further includes data from previous assignments as well that they reuse to make a golden combination of the experience and other expertise.

Talking about the earlier assignments the high-quality translation should be kept in translation memory as usually, the translation data deals with the same words, terms, and phrases. These could be consent forms, summaries of the products, and other packages inside.

The promising future 

The biological industry including biopharma and medical technology has a bright future. There are new inventions and medical discoveries every day. With the help of artificial intelligence, medical experts are going to shine bright for the next many years. A number of diseases that were declared uncurable in the past now have cures. The cure for other diseases is more effective now. The medical companies and healthcare experts have also focused on treatment as well as the steps that can be taken to prevent the disease.

Life science translation has blossomed like never before and going to boom more in near future. The translation of the life sciences has also helped in reducing the time frame and also cutting the cost. The data-based approaches of the experts, medical algorithms, and the huge network of connected devices have the potential of creating a healthy healthcare system. There are the medical devices, medicines, and medical software that people never imagined in the past have physical existence now and progressing more with every passing day. 

Final words

Life science is a huge domain. It has further disciplines and types that require the translation further. There are tips to execute the translation services as well as the best practices that can help the authorities in the efficient execution of the process. Furthermore, there are challenges which companies and translation language providers have to face during their work. Despite all these challenges, life science translation has a bright future.

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