interpreting

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)

Financial period ends – how can we help you?

21.2.2024 by Delingua

For many companies, the financial period is a calendar year, which means that it ended just at the turn of the year. At the end of the financial period, companies must remember to provide their auditor with, for example, receipts, possible loans, investments or changes in the activities of the company as well as to carry out an inventory.

The new financial period also brings certain things to remember. At the beginning of the year, an annual report on the previous year will be drawn up and a meeting of the Board of Directors and an annual general meeting will be arranged. It is a good idea for companies operating internationally to prepare the annual report in all of the languages used in the company to allow owners and investors to get acquainted with the figures and events of the previous year. If the company has foreign owners, it would also be advisable to arrange annual general meetings in such a way that everyone attending them understands what is being said. In such cases, professional interpreting is justified.

Delingua is happy to help when you need to have the annual report translated or interpreting arranged for the annual general meeting. From us, you can order a translation of your annual report and interpreting for the annual general meeting. We have compiled a few tips below to keep in mind when the annual report and the annual general meeting are topical.

Tips for having an annual report translated

When ordering a translation of the annual report, it is worthwhile to get in touch early enough. Annual report projects are ordered and scheduled well in advance, and professional translation agencies will be busy in the first months of a new year. Be sure to be on time, allocate enough time for the translation and involve the translation partner already in the planning phase of the annual report.

Reference material makes translation easier, and annual reports are no exception. You can provide your translation partner with previous annual reports or other material in the target language, for example. This gives the translator an indication of the company’s terms, specialised terminology and style of the translation.

Also, decide in advance on the file format of the annual report. If possible, translations should be made directly in the original file format. The translation partner should also be informed of any exceptions, for example regarding the figures.

The annual report is often a highly confidential file and should not necessarily be delivered for translation by email. The file can be delivered over a secure connection through the translation agency’s ordering portal, for example. If the company does not have a written agreement with the translation agency, it is advisable to sign a possible non-disclosure agreement well in advance of the start of the translation project.

You will find more practical tips in our annual report guide (in Finnish).

Tips for interpreting for the annual general meeting

If international participants are attending the annual general meeting, they should be provided with professional interpreting. Conference interpreting, which practically means simultaneous interpreting, is the most suitable method of interpreting for an annual general meeting. In simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter interprets at the same time as the speaker speaks. The speech to be interpreted is transmitted to the interpreters’ headphones with the aid of interpreting equipment and interpreting is then transmitted by microphone to the listeners’ headphones. Interpreting can be arranged on site, as a hybrid model or entirely remotely. Interpreting can be arranged whether all of the participants or only some of them are physically present at the meeting or whether the meeting is held remotely.

When planning interpreting arrangements, the following factors, among others, must be taken into account: which languages the meeting will be interpreted into, what the main language of the meeting will be, and where and when the meeting will take place. It is also a good idea to provide the interpreters with advance material that will facilitate successful interpreting. Advance material may include the schedule as well as the documents and presentations of the meeting. Any other material in the target language also helps the interpreter to maintain terminological consistency.

Interpreting for foreign-language participants makes them feel that they have genuinely been taken into account in the arrangements of the meeting. We have prepared guides on interpreting for an event (in Finnish) and on remote interpreting. The guides will provide you with comprehensive information on what to take into account when arranging on-site and remote interpreting.

Delingua helps you at the end of the financial period

Now is a good time to order a translation of the annual report and arrange (remote) interpreting for the annual general meeting; we are happy to help. Contact us via email in matters concerning translation and interpreting; we promise to get back to you as soon as possible!

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.

Nordic Business Forum 2023

9.10.2023 by Delingua