interpreting services

11th year of interpreting at Nordic Business Forum

30.4.2024 by Delingua

Why accuracy is critical to medical translations

16.4.2024 by Delingua

In medical translations, there can be no room for error. A wrong word can sometimes even mean the difference between life and death.

In the tragic case of Willie Ramirez from South Florida, USA, it was the misunderstanding of one word, ‘intoxicado’, that caused his treatable brain bleed to be missed with devastating consequences.

In Cuban Spanish, ‘intoxicado’ signifies an illness brought on by something you have eaten or drunk. Willie wrongly assumed that his intense headache was being caused by something he had consumed at a restaurant earlier that day. This was misinterpreted by the hospital staff as a drug overdose, and he was treated as such. By the time they realised their mistake, it was too late.

The results tragically left Willie a quadriplegic for life. The hospital was sued for $71 million dollars, and Willie’s mother, who took her son to the hospital, has chastised herself ever since for using the ‘wrong word’.

What are medical translations?

This example highlights the risks of not having professional translators available in medical facilities. But within the sphere of life sciences, there are lots of types of translation that require professional medical translation services.

Interpreting

In health centres, hospitals or doctor’s offices, non-native speakers may need a professional hospital interpreter to help them understand what critical information the doctor is relaying and make the patient fully understood.

Labelling and inserts

Pharmaceutical manufacturing companies need to ensure that the right information is printed on their labels, including dosage, instructions for usage, and side effects. Medical devices and surgical equipment would also fall into this category as they need to be properly labelled to avoid malpractice.

Scientific and technical translation

Research reports, studies, clinical trials and interpreted data all need to be translated by an expert medical translator who understands the terms and the data represented exactly in both languages.

Medical documentation

Any leaflets or information documentation, both online and in print, that is needed to keep the public well-informed must be accurately translated into numerous language variants. This includes any marketing or advertising materials for new drugs that must accurately represent the product.

Educational material

Scientists and medical professionals require continuous ongoing training to keep their skills in their prime. Educational textbooks and eLearning materials must be kept up to date and accurately translated to ensure the highest standard of training is maintained.

The consequences of inaccurate translations

Inaccurate medical translations could have wide-reaching consequences that heavily impact people’s lives.

Loss of life, permanent disability or impact on a patient’s lifestyle
Malpractice lawsuits and loss of licenses to practice or manufacture goods
Delays in the clinical trials that halt scientific progress
Reputation damage for companies and individuals

Expert translators can help both individuals and businesses avoid these serious consequences of medical mistranslations.

Work with a medical translations expert

For high-quality medical translations, you need to ensure that you work with a Language Service Provider who can team you up with the best experts in their respective fields. Experts not only with scientific expertise but also a deep understanding of the culture and the language.

This article was originally published by LanguageWire Company (Verity Hartley)

Thank you for your cooperation and welcome to 2024!

28.12.2023 by Katja Virtanen

Interpreting today

21.11.2023 by Katja Virtanen

This autumn, we had the great pleasure of being Nordic Business Forum’s interpreting partner for the tenth time in a row. All the fascinating presentations on the main stage at Messukeskus in Helsinki were interpreted simultaneously from English into Finnish and Estonian.

As before, interpreting was offered to almost 7,000 seminar participants at the venue as well as tens of thousands of livestream followers. Although many participants have good business English skills and listening to presentations in English is also a good option, this year’s audience was clearly more interested in interpreting than before and, for example, many people came to our stand to ask for instructions on how to use the interpreting application.

Now, why has interpreting suddenly become so popular?

Technology as a driver of growth

The language service industry as a whole has been growing for quite some time. The growth of translation services is driven by the internationalisation of companies, the development of technology and the exponential increase in content volumes. When it comes to interpreting, increased immigration and the use of new technologies have played a key role in increasing the demand for interpreting services.

The development of interpreting technology has provided easier access to services. It is no longer impossible to arrange interpreting at a very short notice or for very rare language pairs. Previously, it was necessary to think about getting a professional interpreter on site in person, whereas the focus today is more on the quality of interpreting and advising the customer on using the right interpreting technology. The number of languages available at meetings has also increased thanks to the development of technology.

Multilingual meeting

When remote interpreting got a significant boost a few years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also said that remote interpreting is here to stay. We were right, but the desire to meet other people was still there and led to the return of in-person meetings. Meetings with interpreting are still held in Teams and on other platforms but also frequently in the traditional way. The coexistence of remote and in-person meetings resulted in a completely new type of interpreting: hybrid interpreting. Technology makes it possible for people to listen to interpreting both on site and remotely, and it may even be the case that interpreters are not always present at the event.

In any case, the availability of interpreting has improved and the increased use of technology has also seen interpreting become more interesting. It is no longer just language work; instead, customers often also need advice on choosing an interpreting platform and guidance on how to arrange a meeting and interpreting. In connection with meetings, other language services may also be needed, such as translation of documents or transcription of meeting recordings. A whole new concept has been born: the multilingual meeting.

Technology will not replace interpreters

I have not yet written much about interpreters themselves in this article. In most cases, technology has had a positive impact on the way interpreters work. Various databases, such as term bases and searchable reference material databases, have made the work of interpreters easier. Similarly, remote interpreting has made it possible to accept several interpreting assignments for the same day as time is saved when there is no need to travel.

Although technology is developing in leaps and bounds and machine interpreting is also emerging as an option, it is unlikely that human interpreters will be replaced by machines in the near future. The work of an interpreter requires the ability to identify with the speaker, to adapt to different circumstances and to encounter people, which is something that machines cannot do, at least for the time being. And who would even want to listen to a monotonous machine voice all the time!

In the future, I believe there will be even more demand for interpreting and interpreters.

Ten years of interpreting at Nordic Business Forum

13.6.2023 by Delingua

Nordic Business Forum, one of the world’s largest business conferences, will again take place at Messukeskus on 27–28 September 2023. The conference will gather together more than 7,000 participants at the venue, and tens of thousands will follow the event via live stream.

Delingua is the conference’s official interpreting partner for the tenth time. All presentations on the main stage will be interpreted simultaneously from English into Finnish and Estonian. This year, we will also have our own stand at the conference, where we will present our language services.

How to listen to the interpreting

Presentations will be interpreted as the presenters are speaking, i.e. simultaneously. This means you can listen to the interpreter and watch the presentation at the same time. Listening to the interpreting is possible through the Interprefy application, which can be downloaded for free on iOS and Android phones.

At the event, a code will be shared and with which you can log in to the interpreting application and select the language you want. All you need to listen to the interpreting of interesting speeches is a phone, the app and headphones.

Why should you listen to an interpreter?

Although speakers often speak fluent English and moderate language skills mean listeners can follow speeches, we dare say that many miss the deeper understanding of speeches because they are listening to a foreign language. Many speeches often contain a lot of figures of speech and rhetorical language, so interpreting makes it easier to follow them in your own native language.

By listening to an interpreter, you will get far more from the presentations. Interpreting is also great to listen to when the interpreter really throws themself into the speech. We recommend at least testing how the interpreting sounds.

What does interpreting require from interpreters?

The speeches at Nordic Business Forum are engaging and require special enthusiasm from interpreters. An interpreter must be able to convey the message and feeling of the speech in a different language. It means they must throw themselves into the mood of the speech and the speaker. However, an interpreter must also balance cultures and localise the speech to match the culture of the target language. Loud speech, for example, may not seem genuine in some cultures. This means that simultaneous interpreting is extremely challenging.

A professional interpreter prepares for each assignment before the actual interpreting event. Star speakers rarely send their speeches in advance to interpreters for preparation, so the interpreters at Nordic Business Forum prepare by watching and listening to the speakers’ previous presentations on, say, YouTube and by following the news.

If you are coming to Nordic Business Forum, take with you headphones so you can listen to the speeches with interpreting. More detailed instructions for listening to the interpreting will be available at the conference. Don’t forget to stop by our stand — we’re looking forward to meeting you!

Delingua to offer interpreting services during Sweden’s Presidency of the Council of the EU

20.12.2022 by Delingua