Italian Translation : Medical Field

Introduction

With the rise in world trade and the advent of such novel, globalized services as business process outsourcing and the offshore, translation, as a line of work, is gaining much significance in our present times. For added value, translation services are giving more and more importance to specialization. Hence, the demand for professional translators in various specialist fields is also rising fast. This piece of research work will focus mainly on English – Italian translation related to the medical field, and will attempt to analyse the implications of undergoing studies in the same field, as well as relevant resources and facilities required and available – such as medical glossaries, software, internet-based tools, medical dictionaries, and medical translation forums.
More importantly, unprejudiced attempts will also be made to evaluate best practices in training offered to translators in the field in question in a few selected institutions, both in the UK and in Italy, namely the Chartered Institute of Linguists (IOL), the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), the Associazione Italiana Traduttori e Interpreti (AITI) and the Associazione Nazionale Italiana Traduttori e Interpreti (ANITI). In so doing, this piece of research hopes to develop comprehensive guidelines to help people wishing to enroll on an Italian – English translation course make the right choice as per their expectations and preferences. Carried out in the style of case studies, course structure, content, resources and systems of assessments of each of the aforementioned renowned institutions offering training in translation will be analyzed and evaluated. In order to assess the differences between training in translation offered within a technical / vocational setting as opposed to an academic setting, comparative studies will also be made the relevant courses offered at two UK universities – London Metropolitan and Midllesex University – and two Italian universities – Università di Forlí and La Sapienza di Roma. As with the training institutions, the course content, methodology, support systems and frameworks of the said universities will also be evaluated and compared. Furthermore, institutions and associations provide to translators rules and codes of conduct with regard to the translator’s professional environment. Differences and similarities in the codes of conduct provided by the institutions under study will equally be explored for a better insight into the translator’s professional environment.

Frameworks and Support Systems

The first part of this section will provide insight into the frameworks and support systems provided to trainees at each of the institutions on study. In the second part of the section, comparative studies of the various frameworks and support systems will be made for finding strengths and possible weaknesses / loopholes of each.
Established in 1986, ITI is considered as one of the most esteemed institutions for providing translation services of highest standard to the government, industries, and the media, and for promoting the same profession. In fact, it is the only independent association of practising translators and interprets in the United Kingdom.

ITI currently has over 3000 professional members including freelancers, translation companies and educational establishments. One of its aims is to liaise between potential clients and qualified translators and interpreting service providers. 
ITI is a member of the International Federation of Translators and Interprets (FTI). The institute also takes part in the development of significant international policies related to profession in question.
Though not being primarily an educational institution but rather a translation service provider, ITI offers short professional development courses and workshops aimed at developing linguistic, business, as well as technological skills of translators and interpreters. It also provides guidance and counselling to individuals showing an interest in the profession. ITI defines itself as a “professional membership association and standard-setting institute” (http://www.iti.org.uk/), hence its efforts towards quality assurance and the upholding of professionalism in the sector. The ITI committee acts as a regulatory body with regard to the training, examinations, marketing and public relations of the institute. Members of the ITI may refer to The Arbitration and Professional Standards Committee to make sure that standards are met and to help resolve issues. Other services and facilities offered to members include an arbitration service, recommended model terms of business, vetting of staff translators and interpreters, a referral service, a peer support scheme, a public information service, a 24 hour legal helpline, as well as advice on continuing professional development.
More importantly, ITI, as an authority in itself, provides a voice in the world for translators and interpreters, as well as a professional status to all its members. The latter are indiscriminately listed in the ITI Directory of members and enjoy networking opportunities and facilities. Residential Weekend Workshops are also organized for members to offer the latter regular opportunities to meet and improve their skills in an informal environment. The Annual Conference of the ITI attracts members from all the various language professions.
Founded in 1910, IOL is one of the oldest translation institutions, hence it acts as a respected language assessment and an accredited awarding body offering internationally recognized translation qualifications. The institute is actively involved in language issues at national as well as international levels. In fact, unlike several other translation institutions, IOL serves all professional linguists, irrespective of their country of residence or specialised field. In so doing, IOL aims at promoting the use of modern languages by improving the status of all professional linguists, while also maintaining a high and professional standard of work under the rules given by the Code of Conduct (see further). Some of the benefits and facilities that individuals enrolled at IOL may enjoy are business support (stationery, venue finding) and insurance cover (life, house, travel policies, amongst others). The organization also promotes healthy living as it offers gym facilities, weekend breaks and holidays to its members.
Although the IOL has nearly twice as many members as the ITI, reaching over 6500 members, associate members and fellows, they do offer several similar facilities such as financial and legal advice (telephone legal helpline) and a bi-monthly publication. ITI publishes the ITI Bulletin twice a month, while IOL publishes The Linguist. Both these magazines advertise events and list conference / workshops information as well as reviews and related articles. Additionally, The Linguist also publishes a list of job advertisements for linguists. It is also interesting to note that ITI does not limit its services to members alone but in fact extend them to non-members as well. Hence, at this stage of research, it can be concluded that the higher enrolment rate at IOL may be explained by the fact that this latter institution enjoys a better reputation, having been established earlier than ITI.
Unlike the previously discussed translation institutions, AITI is a non-profitable association that was founded in 1950. In fact, it is the founding member of the International Federation of Translators and Interprets (FTI), which is established by sixty national associations for translators and interprets. Based in Italy, AITI works at national, regional as well as international levels. At the national level, the AITI is organized in regional sections, and is coordinated by a National Presidency. AITI maintains cordial business relationships with ministries, commissions, and other associations within the country. To mark and maintain its presence at the international level, AITI regularly participates in the FIT Congress and collaborates with authorities such as the supranational European Union and UNESCO. (Refer to information on AITI on the UNESCO portal at http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=4150&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html ).
AITI defines its objectives in the following terms:

– To promote the establishment- better conditions and benefits of working translators and interpreters and ensure compliance.

– To promote legislative initiatives aimed at recognizing a legal professional, of copyright in favor of translators and translation of technical education at various levels.

– To promote further training of translators and interpreters, collection and dissemination of information concerning the profession, including the collaboration with training institutes for translators and interpreters. (http://www.aiti.org/).

As far as membership is concerned, AITI accepts professionals who meet qualifications and experience specified by the constitution. An admission test is however required to ensure high enrolment level. Aggregated partners, scholars and experts for translation and related materials are also encouraged to join the institution as member. Like ITI and IOL, AITI also provides guidance and advice on matters of professional interest, including legal advice, to all its members. Whereas ITI only limits its activity at the international level to participation in international conferences, AITI holds its very own annual international conference to assert its position as an internationally renowned translation institution, just like ITI. This conference, which was held this year at Bologna, Italy, on 6th and 7th June 2008, attracts international participation, indeed. This year’s conference title was “The profession of translator and interpreter: ethics, quality and life-long learning”. (Further particulars of conference at http://www.proz.com/forum/language_industry_events_announcements/103037-international_aiti_conference_2008_bologna_italy_6_7_june_2008.html and http://www.aiti.org/fileadmin/downloads/congresso2008/Bologna%202008%20Call%20for%20papers_en.pdf).
Furthermore, AITI helps its members benefit from discounted rates for conventions, whether at the national or international level. Another additional benefit that AITI members enjoy is free subscription to all important international translation journals and other publications over and above the national newsletter and other publications of the AITI itself.
Set up in 1956, ANITI, like AITI, is a non-profit association having as main activity the setting up and implementation of Italian legal regulations for translators and interprets. ANITI is undoubtedly Italy’s leading professional association of translators and interpreters, though it would be difficult to establish a hierarchy between AITI and ANITI. Like AITI, ANITI also enjoys a strong international reputation as an association for translators and interpreters. ANITI ensures the development and dispensing of ethical and professional values to all its members. The association operates at an institutional level and aims to clarify relationships between professional translators and agencies. Its main objective is defined as the establishment of clear ethics and rules for professional translators. Evidently, ANITI seeks to promote the best interest for the translators, like all the other institutes discussed above and most other translation institutions. However, ANITI goes one step further in its endeavour, as compared to the aforementioned institutions, as it carries out market research and evaluates market demand to provide all necessary and relevant information about the different markets that its member translators are interested in for specialization or to take up employment. Another particular service offered by ANITI to its members is that it collaborates closely with other institutes and associations with a view to enable members develop a more practical and hands-on approach to translation, which will in turn contribute to a better understanding of the profession. Many aspiring translators in fact prefer ANITI to other institutions precisely for this same professional experience. Establishing a Code of Conduct for members, as well as offering legal and fiscal advice to the latter are also important activities of ANITI, which contribute to its popularity.
An interesting example of how training in translation is placed into the context of academic studies is the translation and text-editing agency TRANSCEN, which is an integral part of the Middlesex University Translation Institute. Located within the University, TRANSCEN draws upon the specialist expertise of professional translators, linguists and academics working across multiple disciplines, and in a wide range of languages. Indeed, many of the translators working for TRANSCEN researchers and academics associated with the Middlesex University Translation Institute, hence allowing for a positive cross-fertilization between theory and practice. The Middlesex University Translation Institute and TRANSCEN thus support each other, mainly in two ways. Firstly, as explained above, university academics engage in the provision of translation services, thus contributing to TRANSCEN’s commitment to improving the status of translation and translators. On the other hand, TRANSCEN also provides opportunities for student participation in supervised production of translations, thus exposing students who are engaged in translation studies at the Middlesex University Translation Institute to real work environments and exigencies.
Another interesting case study for training in translation offered at university level in UK is at the London Metropolitan University, which offers translation studies at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels within its Department of Humanities, Arts and Languages. The development of degrees in Applied Translation and Interpreting has further increased the university’s offering in the field of translation, and the studies for these degrees is now being and supported by interpreting suites that have been set up at Moorgate. Though being academic courses, the focus of these studies is rather on the practical side of translation, hence the course appellation (‘Applied’) and the interpreting suites.
In October 2001, the Forlì Branch of the University of Bologna was set up with regard to the decentralization policy that some of the most popular universities in Italy adopted due to the number of students enrolling at these institutions exceeding their enrollment capacity. The Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in Translation, Languages, and Cultures (SITLeC) was one of the two initial departments established at this dislocated branch of the University of Bologna in the town of Forlì. Academic offerings were widened at a later stage but the institution kept its highly internationalized and professionalized character, which are essential for international recognition of the translation qualifications that it offers. In 2006 E-learning was introduced at the institution to make translation studies even more accessible to students.
La Sapienza – Università di Roma is another good example of refined practices in translation studies in Italy within the academic framework of higher studies. La Sapienza – Università di Roma is one of the most prestigious academic institutions of Italy, so much so that Pope Benedict XVI said, “It is a great joy for me to meet the community of “La Sapienza – Università di Roma” on the occasion of the inauguration of the academic year. For centuries, this university has marked the progress and the life of the city of Rome, bringing forth intellectual excellence in every field of study”. La Sapienza – Università di Roma offers translation programmes up to post-graduate level, but the most important aspect of translation studies as they are dispensed at this institution is the focus on specialization. Indeed, the university offers specialized programmes in literary and technical-scientific translation. Interestingly, joint honours degrees foreign languages and literature are also offered to allow students refine their language skills.

CODES OF CONDUCT OR SIMILAR INSTRUMENTS

Under this heading, a comparative study will be made between the Code of Conduct developed by the British institution IOL to its members and the one conceived by the Italian ANITI institute. This part of the study is relevant in the sense that it aims at putting forward common and divergent aspects of both Codes of Conduct, thus drawing attention to codes of conduct for translators that seem to be country specific as compared to what would be in demand universally. Having come into effect as from 19 November 2007, the Code of Conduct established by IOL does not limit its usage to members of the institution, but “intended to regulate the professional conduct of members of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, Chartered Linguists who are members of the Chartered Institute or of other organisations, and registrants on the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI).” Article 2.2 of the
Code of Conduct identifies its objectives as:
maintain the integrity of the profession, and
provide assurance of professional standards to users of language services and to the public at large.
Within the Code of Conduct, applicable disciplinary procedures following non-adherence are well defined. A Guide to Good Practice and operating guidelines for specialist areas of practice are also included within the document in question. Stipulating good conduct and integrity, this document thus ensures best practices within the field of translation for the benefit of consumers of the said service. In this light, the Code of Conduct even advises translators not to undertake translation work that does not comply with their field of competence. This Code of Conduct developed by IOL ensures impartiality and confidentiality to translation service buyers. However, the Code of Conduct caters for the welfare and security of clients and translators alike in the sense that it cautions the latter so that they do not expose themselves to the consequence of non-adherence due to ignorance.
The Code of Conduct developed by the Italian institution ANITI was first established in 2004, and amended in 2005 and 2007. Its Preamble states that:

“The translator and interpreter are responsible for transmitting in the target language the same concepts and messages as in the original text, without additions or omissions, to the best of their skills, respecting all aspects of language and culture of the original text. The translator and interpreter must foster communication and conversation in a position of neutrality.” (CODICE DEONTOLOGICO di A.N.I.T.I.).
This very introduction to the document evinces that in essence both Codes of Conduct under study promote similar values and principles for the translator. For instance, Article 5 of this Code of Conduct stipulates that:
“The translator and interpreter should govern their conduct with the duties of probity, decency and dignity. It is prohibited to the interpreter and translator, in the course, to express political opinions or personal and to issue public statements about their political or religious ideology.”(CODICE DEONTOLOGICO di A.N.I.T.I.).
However, whereas the British Code of Practice focuses more on attitudes and behavior of the translator, the Italian document – while also promoting loyalty and integrity (Article 6) amongst translators attaches as much importance to the outcome of the practice; that is the translated work. Both documents, for instance, discourage outsourcing of work, but the Code of Conduct developed by the AITI expands the issue more at length. Interestingly, the latter Code of Conduct is limited in use to members of the AITI. Another interesting element that the Italian Code of Conduct comprises, but which is not developed in the Code of Conduct put forward by IOL is ‘relationship with colleagues’ (Title II) and ‘with other associates’ (Title IV).

Client-translator relationship with its contractual and conventional duties and responsibilities

Accreditation is defined as the process through which a legally responsible agency or association grants public recognition to a school, institute, college, university, training institution or programme of study that meets minimum established educational standards. Generally, translation is not considered as an ‘accredited’ profession because over the past decade or so, with the advent of globalization, translation agencies and companies have mushroomed, offering their services and training their own staff. Translators are more often recognized as ‘professionals’ based on their experience than on their certificates. Obtaining a qualification in translation is also very easy as, due to the popularity of the profession, studies of the same at different levels have been made very accessible by a panoply of institutions all over the world. In the recent years, e-learning and distance studies have also increased accessibility as well as affordability of translation studies by far.
However, to become a certified professional translator with accredited qualifications so as to ensure dignified career prospects, job security and fulfillment of professional ambitions in the field of translation, one should make sure that one takes up translation studies at an accredited institution. Hence the role of such translation associations as ITI, IOL, AITI and ANITI, which aim at ensuring quality standards within translation studies, and even engage in certification, accreditation and recognition mechanisms for translation qualifications. Such associations, as explained earlier, also take upon themselves to establish the relevant procedures, as well as the drafting of accreditation and recognition criteria. Since translation is a trans-border activity, some of these associations do not only operate at a national level but even make laudable attempts to allow recognition of translation qualifications in a number of international contexts.

AVAILABLE TRANSLATION TOOLS AND RESOURCES FOR THE MEDICAL FIELD

Like any technical translation, translation in the medical field requires refined knowledge and expertise of the field in question. Indeed, error-free translation is crucial when it comes to technical translation because user safety greatly depends upon the quality of translation. This kind of expertise is even more important in the medical field because this field calls for much accuracy and precision. Inaccurate or inexpert translation may eve result in loss of life. Translation is essential to the sale of medical products on the foreign market. The risks involved when it comes to over-the-counter medication with instructions in foreign languages are indeed considerable. Fortunately, a number of tools and resources are available to facilitate medical translation. These tools and resources do not replace specialization but rather contribute to the same.
Certain translation tools are for general use, but when applied to medical translation, they may prove to be of great help. One such example is the Translation Memory (TM), which is a technology that enables reuse of previously translated material. Consistency and standardization are vital to the translation of documents containing clinical data. Most translation software that identify statistical patterns in data from different sites cannot recognize identical phrases with different spacing or punctuation, or synonyms such as “pain” and “ache”. TM, though it does not replace human translators, is an important tool to help ensure consistency and enhance efficiency as it stores and reuses already created expert human translations; hence it is an efficient tool commonly used by companies offering translation in the medical field.
Medical Dictionaries, Encyclopedia and Glossaries are also widely used resources in medical translation. Thousands of such materials are available in print on the market, each containing exhaustive lists of medical terms and terminologies, though it is important to verify their credibility and reputation before consulting as quite a few of them do not keep with desired quality. Some esteemed resources are William S. Haubrich’s Medical Meanings: A Glossary of Word Origins (2003) and the Dorland’s series of medical referencing resources, including Dorland’s Edizioni Scientifiche Internazionali (ESI), Dorland’s Medical Abbreviations (1992), Dorland’s Electronic Medical Speller CD-ROM, Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary on CD-ROM and Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary online. Several other online medical dictionaries, encyclopedia and glossaries are also available (e.g. http://www.interfold.com/translator and http://www.gilbertolacchia.it/risorse/risorse.htm), though many of them are not as reliable as printed ones.
The European Commission has sponsored a laudable project executed by Heymans Institute of Pharmacology and Mercator School, Department of Applied Linguistics – the Multilingual Glossary of Technical and Popular Medical Terms in European Languages. This online system contains the electronic form of eight medical glossaries, which amounts to 1830 technical and popular medical terms in eight of the nine official European languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Danish. Four types of documents are available on the system: Lists of technical and popular medical terms containing an index of all the medical terms, with cross-references between technical and popular terms (one list for each language); Glossaries of technical and popular medical terms containing notes and comments from translators and users for each of the 1830 terms in the selected language; Multilingual lemma collection, which is a list containing 1830 pages, one for each of the 1830 concepts in this system, with each page bringing together all the technical and popular terms from the all languages; and a Dictionary containing a short description (in English) of each of the 1830 terms.
Translation dictionaries specific to the medical field also exist in different language options, including English – Italian and Italian – English. Additionally, many translation agencies offering medical translation services develop and continuously update client-specific medical glossaries to maintain consistency. Inspired from these medical glossaries, the Glossifier has been developed, which is a tool to help not only translators but anyone to understand online medical articles and medical texts better. The URL of the online medical article which needs to be “glossified” may be typed into a toolbox, or the article may be pasted, so that it will then appear with all the words that are in the related medical dictionary linked to their definition.
Moreover, a number of medical translation tools and resources narrow down their specialties even further, such as Dorland’s Cardiology Speller (1992) and Dorland’s Neurology Word Book for Medical Transcriptionists (2000). Such specific versions of the Dorland’s medical dictionaries have been published for a variety medical fields and areas, including alternative medicine, dentistry, pediatrics, dentistry, psychiatry, dermatology, pathology, gastroenterology, medical equipment, immunology, endocrinology, gynecology, cardiology, orthopedics, plastic surgery, neurology, radiology and oncology.
Resources are also available for quality assurance in medical translation. For example, some companies may solicit the services of third-party companies to address medical translation validation. Such companies also exist, some of which offer accuracy-testing measures. Other companies offer the service of distributing patient questionnaires to specific samples of international populations to evaluate the nuance of cultural sensitivity. Other services may include Back Translation – that is the text is translated into the market language and then back to the original language. The two versions are then compared to verify that the translations match.