Medical Translation

Dr. Wedyan Hammas

Specialized Translation
 What is Translation, transliteration
and localization?
• Is there any difference between transla2on, translitera2on and localiza2on?

• Diamond Clinic
• ‫ > ﻋﯿﺎدة اﻷﻟﻤﺎس‬transla'on
• ‫ > اﻟﻌﯿﺎدة اﻟﻤﺎﺳﯿﺔ‬localiza'on: the process of making something local in character
or restric2ng it to a par2cular place.
• ‫ > ﻋﯿﺎدة داﯾﻤﻮﻧﺪ‬translitera'on: the phone2c transcrip2on from a source language
of a word by the usage of differing script.
Target Audience
Governmental institutions/ Public health care/ Publicity and
awareness

Purpose of translation (why?) Register (Cultural and educational levels) Country

Educational/ academic/ marketing (How?) (Where?)
High register/ Low register Localization

High > Clinical Study, Scientific publication… etc

Low > Medical awareness, children flyers… etc.
Steps Before Translating a Medical
Text
1. You have to extract all medical terminology before starting the
formal project. These terms will be used in later translations to
ensure accurate translation.
2. When translating, you have to refer to a large number of medical
materials, such as official websites and companies.
3. You have to ask the customer to provide the terminology,
translation memory if any, and quality requirements for
reference. With these reference materials, the translation will
maintain a high degree of consistency.
Medical Terminology
• Davies (1985: 13) defines medical terminology as “the study of words used
to communicate facts and ideas particular to medicine” Medical terms
refer to words, compounds, abbreviations and acronyms that are related to
medicine.
• In terms of origin, medical terminology can be classified under three groups:
a. Words which are taken from ordinary English vocabulary.
b. Words which are taken from another language.
c. Words which have been invented.
Some Lay Terms with their Corresponding
Scientific Medical Terms

Lay terms (popular terms) Scientific terms

Tummy Abdomen
Fit Epilepsy
Bleeding Haemorrhage
Toothache Dentalgia
Longsightedness Hypermetropia
https://medicine.biu.ac.il/sites/medicine/files/shared/common_medical_terms_sorted_by_arabic.pdf
• Newmark (1988) suggests three categories of English medical terms
based on medical vocabulary, which are:

• Academic: Latin and Greek words associated with academic papers.

• Professional: formal terms used by experts, e.g., ‘epidemic parotitis’.

• Popular: layman’s vocabulary, which may include familiar terms,

e.g. ‘chicken-pox’, ‘scarlet fever’, ‘stroke’.
The Word Root
• The root is the main part of a word and contains the essential meaning. Hutton
(2006:2) states that “roots are the basic medical words. More are derived from
early Greek and Roman (Latin) words. Others have their origins in Arabic, Anglo-
Saxon and German.” For example, the primary root of the term cytogenesis is cyt
which comes from the Greek word kytos. meaning cell. The suffix genesis means
origin so cytogenesis means the origin and development of cells. Many terms can
be built up from the same root; consider these examples:
• Electrocardiogram
• Cardiology
• Cardiovascular
 Prefixes
• A prefix is a part of a word. It is found at the beginning of a word, as in antibody, oronasal etc.
• Each prefix has a meaning, for example, anti means against, hydro means water, per means through etc.
• Prefixes usually add to, change or modify the meaning of the word root. For example, the word natal
means pertaining to birth; adding the prefix “ante”, which means ‘before’, changes the meaning: antenatal
means pertaining to before birth.
• The prefix “ab” which means from, away from, when added to a word such as normal, will change the
meaning of the word. Normal becomes abnormal which is the opposite of normal.
• The same prefix may be added to different words. For example, the prefix anti means against if added to the
following:
Ø Bacterial-antibacterial: Means bacteria killer.
• It is very useful to understand the prefixes used with medical terms in order to assist in tackling the
problems of medical translation.
Suffixes
• A suffix is often found at the end of a term to give it a new meaning. The suffix
cide when added to the word fungi changes the word into fungicide which means
fungus killer.
• A medical term must have at least one root but does not have to have a prefix
and/or a suffix, for example, the term erythrocyte meaning red blood cell. It can
be divided into two roots: erythr means red and cyte means cell.
• Some medical terms have both a suffix and a prefix with the root as in antisepsis,
meaning against infection. It contains the prefix anti, the suffix sis and the root
sep which is derived from the Greek word sepein meaning putrefaction.
 Derivation of English Medical Terms
Modern Translation
• Derivation: to produce a new word from another word by adding an affix and some are derived
from concepts or objects that are associated with them. The derived word often carries a different
meaning from the original one.
1. Some terms are derived from places. These terms are called after the places where the diseases
were first discovered or spread, such as: Lyme disease which is an acute recurrent inflammatory
infection transmitted by a tick borne spirochete. The condition was originally described in the
community of Lyme.
2. Some terms are derived by using a colour such as: Yellow nail syndrome. The nails become
thickened and yellow to yellowish green.
3. Some terms are derived by using a body location such as: Spinal fluid culture which refers to
the sample (culture) that is taken from the spinal cord.
4. Some terms are derived from a person’s name, usually the one who invented the equipment, or
discovered disease, etc. The following are examples: Alzheimer’s disease: the word ‘Alzheimer’ is
derived from Alois Alzheimer, a German neurologist who discovered the disease
 Derivation of Arabic Medical Terms
• Derivation in this sense means how Arabic lexicographers and terminologists produce an
Arabic equivalent for a foreign word.
• Derivation is very common in Arabic lexicography and terminology to produce new terms
with new lexical meanings from existing and old Arabic roots following a lexical pattern.
Observe these examples:

‫ﻣرض‬/disease, ‫ﻣرﯾض‬/patient, ‫ﻣﻣرﺿﺔ‬/nurse, ‫ﺗﻣرﯾض‬/nursing

Arab terminologists have followed different strategies to produce an Arabic equivalent for
each foreign term. Derivation is the main strategy that they usually recommend.
• Although derivation does not work where there is no existing or old Arabic root for
the new foreign term. For example, some Arabic medical terms are derived by
explaining what the product is, as in:

Hysterectomy ‫اﺳﺗﺋﺻﺎل اﻟرﺣم‬

Ø Many Arabic medical terms have been derived by direct translation of foreign
medical terms. Observe the examples below:

üCancer, a Latin word meaning crab, literally translated into Arabic as ‫̄ﺳرطﺎن‬

üYellow fever is translated literally into Arabic as ‫اﻟﺣﻣﻰ اﻟﺻﻔراء‬

üBlood pressure is translated as ‫ ﺿﻐط اﻟدم‬which is a direct translation.
• Some Arabic medical terms are coined by describing symptoms and signs. For
example: Jaundice: incorporates a change of body colour and gives the white area of
the eyes a yellowish tinge. In Arabic, it is called ‫( اﻟﺻﻔﯾر‬to become yellow).

• The above derivations does not work with some other medical terms, such as
Chickenpox: although the term contains the word chicken it does not relate to chicken.
It is a disease that usually happens to children. The Arabic terminologists produced the
term ‫ﺟدري اﻟﻣﺎء‬

• The terms which are named after the discoverers, inventors or places are usually
kept when rendering into Arabic, such as:

• Down’s syndrome can be rendered into Arabic as ‫ﻣﺗﻼزﻣﺔ داون‬

 Acronyms and Abbreviations

• An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a group of words,

whereas an abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Acronyms
and abbreviations in Roman script are almost always written in capital letters.
For example:
WHO is the acronym for the World Health Organisation.
AIBA is the abbreviation for aminoisobutyric acid (Jablonski, 2005: 22).
1/ Transliteration with No Explanation
LOAN WORDS
•Transliteration: is the phonetic transcription from
a SL of a word by the usage of differing script.

•Plasma ‫ﺑﻼزﻣﺎ‬
•Vitamin ‫ﻓﯾﺗﺎﻣﯾن‬
•Aspirin ‫اﺳﺑرﯾن‬
•Capsule ‫ﻛﺑﺳوﻟﺔ‬
 2/ Collocations
• Collocations are two words or more which are grammatically linked together as a result of
their meaning.
• Collocations are very common in English especially in technical texts and specifically in
the medical field.
• The problem of translating collocations is that dictionaries do not often help in finding the
meaning for them. But, in medical translation, it is not always difficult to find a collocation
in the TL which has the same meaning as the source collocation. For instance, the English
collocations:

Bird flu >> ‫اﻧﻔﻠوﻧزا اﻟطﯾور‬

Acute leukaemia >> ‫اﻻﺑﯾﺿﺎﺿﺎت اﻟﺣﺎدة‬
 3/ Compounds
• Compounds are terms that include more than one word or element to give a
new meaning independent of the constituent components. his can be
illustrated by a medical term such as chickenpox ‫ﺟدري اﻟﻣﺎء او اﻟﺣﻣﺎق‬where
two words are concatenated, chicken and pox, to make a separate lexeme.

• ‫ﻋدوى ﻣﻛﺗﺳﺑﺔ ﻣن اﻟﻣﺳﺗﺷﻔﯾﺎت‬.hospital-acquired infections , ‫ﺣﺳﺎﺳﯾﺔ ﻟﻠﺿوء‬

photo-allergy
4/ Localization
Localization: the process of making something local in character or
restricting it to a particular place.
Why is localization important in translation?

1. Localization allows the translator to go deeper by specifying which

locale you are targeting versus which language you are translating to.
2. Localized content transforms user experience in ways that make it more
linguistically, culturally, and functionally relevant.
3. Easy to search in search engines, such as Google.
4. Aims to provide acceptance for the target audience.
 Examples of Localization
• Urticaria: is commonly used in most Arab countries as a
transliterated term "‫"ارﺗﻜﺎرﯾﺎ‬. However, not all Arab countries are
familiar with the term and, thus, needs to be localized to make it
linguistically, culturally, and functionally relevant.

• How to localize the term into Arabic? Before answering this

question, one must ask: Shall I translate with high register or a
low register? If the term is in a scientific paper, the translator
should use high register (high level of language use). In this case,
the translation would be:
‫ طﻔﺢ ﺟﻠﺪي‬،‫اﻟﺸﺮى اﻟﺠﻠﺪي‬
Low register can be used with medical awareness flyers and in this
case one can translate “Urticaria” as:
‫ ﺣﻜﺔ ﺟﻠﺪﯾﺔ ﺷﺪﯾﺪة‬،‫ﺣﺴﺎﺳﯿﺔ ﺷﺪﯾﺪة‬
 Glaucoma

‫ اﻟزرق‬،‫ اﻟزرﻗﺔ‬،‫ اﻟﻣﯾﺎه اﻟزرﻗﺎء‬،‫ﺟﻠوﻛوﻣﺎ‬

Standard Arabic (Arabic medical)

‫اﻟزرق‬

Arabic language identity

Saudi Arabia

Egypt (turns blue)

Sign of low blood oxygen levels or poor circulation.

Translation by a more general word
(superordinate)
• Ophthalmologist: a specialist in the branch of medicine concerned
with the study and treatment of disorders and diseases of the eye.

• Optometrist: is a healthcare professional who provide primary vision

care ranging from sight testing and correction to the diagnosis,
treatment, and management of vision changes.

• Optician: an eye care specialist who helps you choose the right
eyeglasses, contact lenses and other vision correction devices.
‫طﺑﯾب ﻋﯾون‬
 Translation by Omission

African )ck-bite fever

‫اﻟﺣﻣﻰ اﻹﻓرﯾﻘﯾﺔ‬

African 2ck-bite fever is a disease caused by a bacteria. You can get infected
if you are biFen by an infected 2ck.
 Translation by Addition
Information that is not part of the original data can be added to the translated data in
the TL. It is often seen that added data is generally based on the cultural, semantic
or even technical aspects of the data. These are denoted either within brackets or as
footnotes. The purpose of adding some information in the TLT is that the reader of
the TLT can then understand the message in the SLT as it is understood by the SLT
reader.

ØFor example, ‘Speech and language therapist’ is a medical specialist and can be
translated into Arabic by adding some information as ‫اﺧﺻﺎٔﯾﻲ ﻋﻼج اﻟﻧطق و اﻟﺑﻠﻊ‬
 Translation by Paraphrasing Using
Related Words

• Epiphyseal plate
‫• ﻟوﺣﺔ اﻟﻣﺷﺎﺷﻲ‬

(‫• ﻟوﺣﺔ اﻟﻧﻣو )ﺻﻔﯾﺣﺔ اﻟﻧﻣو‬

 Nominalization
• A nominalization is method that changes a verb (or adjective) into a noun.
For example, replacing 'move' with 'movement', 'discover' with
discovery' and so on.
• Before it is transferred to the ICU.
.‫ﻗﺑل ﻧﻘﻠﮭﺎ اﻟﻰ ﻗﺳم اﻟﻌﻧﺎﯾﺔ اﻟﻣﻛﺛﻔﺔ‬
Nominalized pattern of the verb transferred does not perform significant
shift to the clause. The change is a structural shift. To be more specific it is a
category shift. The verb ‘” transferred” was transferred into ‫ ﻧﻘﻠﮭﺎ‬which is a
noun.
 Arabization
• According to Ghazala , Arabization is a "naturalization" process that
tends to "take the English term and adapt it to Arabic alphabet and
grammar, by changing one or two of its letter into Arabic ones, and
having singular, plural, masculine, feminine or verb forms of it". For
example:
ØBiological (adjective) ‫ﺑﯾوﻟوﺟﻲ‬

ØBiologist (noun) ‫ ﺑﯾوﻟوﺟﯾﺎت‬/‫ ﺑﯾوﻟوﺟﯾون‬/ ‫اﺧﺻﺎٔﯾﻲ ﺑﯾوﻟوﺟﯾﺎ‬

ØBiologically (adverb) ‫ﺑﯾوﻟوﺟﯾﺎ‬

 Grammatical Equivalence
• A translator should bear in mind the different aspects of grammar in the SL
and in the TL. Baker (2011) states that, unlike the Arabic grammatical
system, the English system makes very few distinctions in terms of number,
gender and verb agreement. Consider the following examples:
• (masculine) or ‫ ﻣرﯾض‬The word ‘patient’ can be translated into Arabic as
‫( ﻣرﯾﺿﺔ‬feminine).

• The affected finger >> (singular) ‫اﻻﺻﺑﻊ اﻟﻣﺻﺎب‬

• The affected fingers could be (dual) ‫اﻻﺻﺑﻌﺎن اﻟﻣﺻﺎﺑﺎن‬
• Could be plural ‫اﻷﺻﺎﺑﻊ اﻟﻣﺻﺎﺑﺔ‬
 Standardization of Arabic Medical
Terms
• When translating medical text، Arab translators face the
problem of the non-standardization of medical terms across
the Arab world. For example, vertebral column could be
rendered into Arabic as:
‫اﻟﻌﻤﻮد اﻟﻔﻘﺮي‬
‫اﻟﻌﻤﻮد اﻟﺸﻮﻛﻲ‬
‫اﻟﺴﯿﺎء‬
‫اﻟﺼﻠﺐ‬
 Practice
1. The patient was referred to the consultant paediatric
ophthalmologist at the eye hospital.
• What kind of strategy have you employed in translating
the above term?
2. The patient has recently undergone surgery for a
gastrostomy and fundoplication at the General Hospital.
• What kind of strategy have you employed in translating
the above term?
•The patient is a known case of haemophilia B.
What kind of strategy have you employed in
translating the above term?

•The patient has a neuropathy.

What kind of strategy have you employed in
translating the above term?
Translate the following terms into Arabic:

1. Bulbar conjunctiva
2. Mycobacterial infection
3. Tuberculosis
4. Fundoplication
5. Meningitis