Vicent Montalt - Medical Translation Step by Step: Learning by Drafting

Translation Practices Explained

Translation Practices Explained is a series of coursebooks designed to help self-learners and teachers of translation. Each volume focuses on a specific aspect of professional translation practice, in many cases corresponding to actual courses available in translator-training institutions. Special volumes are devoted to well consolidated professional areas, such as legal translation or European Union texts; to areas where labour-market demands are currently undergoing considerable growth, such as screen translation in its different forms; and to specific aspects of professional practices on which little teaching and learning material is available, the case of editing and revising, or electronic tools. The authors are practising translators or translator trainers in the fields concerned. Although specialists, they explain their professional insights in a manner accessible to the wider learning public.

These books start from the recognition that professional translation practices require something more than elaborate abstraction or fixed methodologies. They are located close to work on authentic texts, and encourage learners to proceed inductively, solving problems as they arise from examples and case studies.

Each volume includes activities and exercises designed to help self-learners consolidate their knowledge; teachers may also find these useful for direct application in class, or alternatively as the basis for the design and preparation of their own material. Updated reading lists and website addresses will also help individual learners gain further insight into the realities of professional practice.

Dorothy Kelly
Series Editor

Medical Translation Step by Step

Learning by Drafting

Vicent Montalt
Maria Gonzlez Davies

First published 2007 by St. Jerome Publishing

Published 2014 by Routledge
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711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Vicent Montalt and Maria Gonzlez Davies 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

ISBN 13: 978-1-900650-83-0 (pbk)
ISSN 1470-966X (Translation Practices Explained)

Typeset by
Print-tech India

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Montalt, Vicent.
Medical translation step by step : learning by drafting / Vicent Montalt, Maria
Gonzalez Davies
p. cm. -- (Translation practices explained)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-900650-83-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Medicine--Translating. I. Gonzalez Davies, Maria. II. Title.

R118.6.M66 2007
610--dc22

2006101395

Documentary research for these chapters was carried out by Balma Fors and Maite Snchez, both of Universitat Jaume I, Castell, Spain.

At every stage in the production of this book the support I have received from Margaret Miller, a dear friend of many years, has been invaluable. She acted as a sounding board for my ideas and the many discussions we had, particularly in the early stages, helped me to clarify my vision of the whole work. Later she read and revised several drafts of , and her perceptive comments and suggestions on content, presentation and style, and her wise counsel, have saved me from many errors. Any that still remain are, of course, my own. I acknowledge her contribution with gratitude.

I also appreciate the contribution of Morten Pilegaard, Jan Engberg, Peter Steffensen, Peter Kastberg, and Patrick Leroyer, of the Aarhus School of Business, and Rafael Aleixandre, of the Universitat de Valncia, who read and commented on .

I would also like to thank Balma Fores and Maite Snchez, of the Universitat Jaume I, for their feedback on a number of chapters as well as their contribution to as research assistants in the last stage of the process.

Special thanks go to the students and teachers of the postgraduate course on medical translation as well as to my colleagues at the GENTT research project both at the Universitat Jaume I from whom I have received useful feedback with regard to the practice and research of medical translation.

Last but not least I wish to thank my family -especially my mother Maria Amparo and my father Vicent-, Merxe and my friends for their unconditional support.

Vicent Montalt
Universitat Jaume I

I would like to thank Dr Josep Enric Boada whose inspiration, help and love for the world of medicine have been crucial in my career. A special mention goes to all those medical practitioners I have met along the years who understand the work of medical translators and are always willing to give up part of their time to help us improve our work.

I also have to thank Dr Eva Espasa and Dr Vctor Obiols from the University of Vic for excellent teaching ideas and support with medical translation subjects, as well as my students of so many years at the Department of Translation at the University of Vic.

Finally, I wish to mention that my contribution to the book has been financed with a grant awarded by the DURSI (Departament dUniversitats per a la Recerca i Societat de la Informaci, Generalitat de Catalunya, DOGC n 3812, 2003MQD) and the interuniversity research group GRACTLE.

Maria Gonzlez Davies
Universitat de Vic and
Universitat Ramon Llull

We wish to acknowledge the helpful guidance of Dorothy Kelly as general editor of the Translation Practices Explained series.

This book deals with the basics of medical translation and with learning how to translate medical texts. It is, therefore, a book that presents facts and information on medical translation and guidelines on how to perform successfully. As part of the series