Infectious Diseases, Part 3

Extensive media coverage of the H1N1 virus was a painful reminder that viruses and bacteria know no frontiers.  Like stealthy spies, they can start in one place and rapidly penetrate every nook and cranny of the globe. 

What terms came up frequently during the recent H1N1  crisis that made us more aware of government measures being taken to assure the public's safety?

A random sample of those terms is given below (two terms are footnoted and indicated by a number):

FRENCH	ENGLISH
pollution de l'air	air pollution
zoonoses	zoonotic diseases(1)
résistance aux médicaments	drug resistance
souche	strain
virus	virus
infection bactérienne	bacterial infection
agent antirétroviral	antiretroviral agent(2)
maladies infectieuses	infectious diseases
immunisations et vaccins	immunizations and vaccinations
mesures et d'interventions d'urgence	emergency preparedness and response

(1)  The WHO says:  "Any disease and/or infection which is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to man is classified as a zoonosis...Over 200 zoonoses have been described and...involve all types of agents: bacteria, parasites, viruses and unconventional agents."

(2) An antiretroviral agent is a substance which stops or slows down the activity of a retrovirus like HIV.

When it comes to translating documents about health issues and emergency health procedures, translators have a true ally - the World Health Organization.  I say that because the WHO web site is now in several languages.  It is an excellent starting point for building  health and public safety lexicons in French and English!   http://www.who.int/en/.

Infectious Diseases, Part 2

In my last blog, I spoke about shying away from large medical translation mandates.  That timidity stems from two factors:

• large mandates (10,000 words and up) are backbreaking.  Maybe translators who use computer-assisted translation tools and who specialize in this field don't share my view.  They can just breeze through their documents and complete the job on time;  I have tried both translation software and CAT tools and I must admit that they fall short of my expectations.  I'd rather translate from scratch, especially if I'm translating documents of less than 10K words. 
• Looking up medical terminology takes time, especially if you're not accustomed to doing medical translation. You can spend hours researching and verifying terms.  I'm not referring to actual technical terms like the official French and English names for specific diseases.  I'm referring more to segments of the translation that can lend themselves to ambiguity due to different local practices.

Like most professionals, translators have to upgrade their skills constantly, not just in the latest technologies but also in translation theory and practice in a given field.  One way of upgrading their skills is to attend seminars.  Seminar topics cover localization (adapting the terms as they are used in the country or region), quality control, recent trends and developments, resources, and familiarization with software features that translators are not aware exist.  

What issues would a medical translation seminar cover?  This one being offered by the ATA (American Translators Association and the  Association of Translators and Interpreters of San Diego) will be held in July 2009 in San Diego, California.  On the agenda:

• translation of medical records (including doctors' orders and prescriptions)
• understanding of medical shorthand (standardized medical writing and record formats)
• understanding of heart problems, cardiovascular procedures and surgeries to come up with more accurate translations
• networking with fellow translators in the same field.

Here are five more terms to add to your French-English lexicon for infectious diseases:

FRENCH	ENGLISH
Fièvre Chikungunya	Chikungunya fever
Cyclospora	Cyclosporiasis
Entérovirus 71	Enterovirus 71
Virus H1N1 (grippe porcine chez l'être humain)	H1N1 virus (pork swine flu)
Maladie de Lyme	Lyme disease

Chikungunya fever causes fatigue, headache, fever and severe arthritis in the wrists, ankles and other joints.  Joints become swollen, reducing the range of motion.  There was a recent outbreak of this disease in Southeast Asia and is sometimes confused with Denge fever because some symptoms are similar.

Cyclosporiasis is a disease that affects the small intestine.  The parasite is microscopic in size.

H1N1, of which we've heard so much about, is a strain of the influenza virus that affects pigs, but which can also affect humans, particularly their respiratory systems.

Lyme disease is a tick-borne disease which, if left untreated, can spread to the musko-skeletal, nervous and cardiovascular systems.

Infectious Diseases, Part 1

 

Despite my translation experience, there are two fields where I hesitate to accept mandates:  legal and medical translation.  I am even more hesitant when documents have over 10,000 words. 

Medical translation is a highly specialized field; if a translator does not have the necessary resources, the quality of the translation in the target language could be compromised.  This is the reason why translators are often required to have an excellent command of the target language (which is normally their mother tongue) and a very good working knowledge (functional and conceptual) of the source language.

Given that new diseases and viruses make their way into the medical community faster than medical dictionaries can keep up, translators often scramble for term equivalents.  You cannot do a good translation with only pocket medical dictionaries.  You need access to terminology and linguistic databases - preferably those that are created by government bodies, accredited private associations and universities) and large medical dictionaries like the ones that Elsevier publishes (Elsevier dictionaries cost an arm and a leg).

I have heard of cases where translators often leave the original term in quotation marks because they can't find the equivalent.  When too many terms in the document are not translated, this indicates that the translator may not have practised due diligence.  A good translator will "move mountains" to find the appropriate translation.  Research is a tool, resourcefulness is a virtue. 

For example, take the infectious disease Brucellose - a  French term.  If a translator does diligent research,  he will learn that it is an illness that affects humans when they consume unpasteurized milk and other milk products from infected cows, goats or pigs.  He will also learn that it is not a  disease common in North America but in regions like the Mediterranean and North and East Africa.  He will also know that the English equivalent is Brucellosis. 

The following are five infectious diseases to add to your French-English vocabulary builder:

 

FRENCH	ENGLISH
Campylobactériose	Campylobacteriosis
Coqueluche	CJD/vCJD
Teigne	Epidermophyton floccosum
Histoplasmose	Histoplasmosis
Leptospirose	Leptospirosis

Following is a brief and general description of each:

Campylobacteriosis:  attacks the digestive system; caused by eating uncooked pork or contaminated milk.  Can also be contracted from animals.

CJD/vCJD:  acronym for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) which is of two types:  classical and variant.  Infectious agents called prions (or misfolded proteins) attack brain cells, leading to gaps in brain tissue.  It can be fatal.

Epidermophyton floccosum: affects the hair, skin and nails, and the disease is characterized by hair loss, breakage or lesions.  This disease is more common in hot climates and in crowded places.

Histoplasmosis: a lung disease caused by a fungus called Histoplasma capsulatum. It can spread to other parts of the body.

Leptospirosis:  a bacteria called Leptospira is the culprit.  It primarily affects animals but humans can catch it through soil, vegetation or water that contains contaminated animal urine.  Humans can also acquire it in pools and lakes.