Medical localization involves the localization of medical content which is translated according to the choices of the target audience. The localization of medical devices, equipment, and other products includes the adaptation and translation of the written content and its components. It addresses the components which are particularly designed and made for the healthcare industry. These all changes are made to facilitate the foreign medical authorities. The process of localization hence revolves around the revision of all the aspects of the products under discussion to make sure that it is culturally appropriate as well as also adhere to the regulatory standards.
This process not only deals with the support material but the packaging is also translated. There are many translation and localization tools available these days that the team has to work with such as
- Hardware and its components
- User guides and manuals
- Accompanying software
- Product packaging
If you are planning the localization and looking for medical localization services, it is important that you take care of certain factors which can help you with an easy and effective localization of your medical products. Many times businesses opt for the translation and localization process but they are themselves blank about the projects, their process, and how it is carried out. So it is not that the localization and translation experts have to research only but the medical companies also have to carry out research to have an idea of how things work out of their industry. Thus it is vital that you as an entrepreneur or the representative of the medical company make sure that you have considered and worked enough on the following factors before executing your localization.
1. Selection of content
All the big medical companies who are carrying their operation all over the globe already understand the importance of localization. Also, they plan new products with particular aspects in mind. Medium and smaller manufacturers and enterprises though produce goods targeting a particular market and then considering the ongoing trends they plan to expand their operation. This approach often affects the localization process and its productivity. The localization in the later stages costs more, involves hectic tasks, and also brings limited profitability.
Therefore, it is important to be mindful of the localization process during the early stages of the production of medical products which content is important and needs to be sent for translation and localization.
2. Preparation of source text
The medical localization company which you have hired for the process could ask for some unnecessary details too. Clients who are not well aware of the process and its steps often lack communication effectively. Thus preparing the source text should be your next strategy as a part of the medical localization. An editable text could be easy to change and prepare. However, there are some cases reported where the translation material is provided in different formats and translators can not try their hands on these directly. A lot of these files are password protected. In such cases, the translators are left with no option but to transcribe the content. Preparing the source file is evident in one way or another. So it is important that if the translators are working on it they use clear and short sentences. They are also advised to cut the idiomatic expressions and cultural references. This can make things easier for further translators if the same content is going to get translated into other different languages too.
3. Building a glossary
The process of medical localization is challenging and draining. It is a broad subject and also deals with medical language interpretation services indirectly. Building a glossary and terminology data should be the next step to follow for medical companies in order to perform seamless localization. Medical terminology is complex and tough. So the companies themselves need to take care of certain terms and medical jargon which they feel they are going to need in their content frequently. It is evident to practice this so that the translators and localization experts can be briefed about those terms and their significance. Building a glossary list and providing standard meanings also help to maintain consistency in medical translation and localization. It also gets challenging when a single person or translator is working on a lengthy and complex text. Therefore a little bit of work in advance can help to carry out the process more conveniently.
Building a glossary list and setting up a database for the medical terminology also helps with telephonic interpretation services for medical sites. The interpreters can simply open the allocated lists and can use the content accordingly.
4. Using back translation
Professional medical interpretation services and medical localization requires precise and to-the-point content. Taking care of precision is extremely vital in medical content as it has no room for unnecessary details. Therefore back translation is used to check the quality of medical content. Back translation deals with documents that are already translated and are translated back to their source language and are further compared with the original with the re-translated text to cross and verify the content if they match well. This way translated content is evaluated in the most neutral and unbiased manner.
Conclusion
Localization is a hectic process overall. It gets complicated further when it is about localizing medical content. Therefore it is recommended by the experts that medical companies don’t rely on their translation and localization partners all the time but play their part too and conduct thorough research work on particular strategies for an effective localization process.
Also Read: Key Difference Between Medical Interpreter and Medical Translator
