Hot Tips for Budding Scientific Translators

Are scientific translators professional linguists who have developed a good understanding of scientific terms and ideas or scientists who have developed linguistic and translation skills? The answer is that they can be either as long as they do develop an understanding of both disciplines. In fact, scientists are normally quite specialised, so they may have a particularly deep understanding of some branch of science but little of any other. Unless they stick to translating a narrow range of scientific texts, they still have to learn about other areas of science if they are to become scientific translators.

So what are the best tips for anyone setting out on the career path of a scientific translator?

Tip #1: Clarity and conciseness are key to scientific translation success

A knowledge of scientific terminology is vital for scientific translation services. Scientific terms are very precise and there is a potential for complete misunderstanding if the wrong terms are used. Literary translation is quite different as it can be ambiguous or unclear without having too much effect on the text being translated. Being familiar with the scientific terms and their meanings in both the original and the target language takes time and it is often difficult to use the correct terms without appearing too repetitious, but that is important for the translator to attempt to master, too.

Tip #2:  Proofread as you translate

It's common for the translator to come across small inconsistencies in the document they are translating. It's best to correct these as you translate them rather than leave them as they are. These small errors in the original document include things like numbers, references to tables and diagrams, wrong symbols etc. It is best for document translation service providers to correct these at the point of translation, rather than have any misunderstandings later on.

Tip #3: Pay attention to symbols, numbers, formulas and units

Most, but not all scientific documents tend to have a large number of these things scattered throughout amongst the text together with graphs and diagrams. Most symbols, numbers, formulas and units tend to be the same whatever the language, which makes translation issues easy, but this is not always the case and particularly translators may have to adapt units from metric to imperial or vice versa depending on the target readership for the documents. More importantly, there has to be absolute consistency with all these components of a scientific document - another example of the scientific translator having to be as much proofreader as translator.

Is Back Translation a Waste of Time and Money?

The short answer to that question is that it depends on how extensive and complex the original translation is. In many cases, where short simple translations such as are commonly handled by document translation services, like driving license and marriage certificate translations, back translation is probably unnecessary. However, for important projects like medical or legal document translations using a back translation as part of the whole translation process may be justified.

But what exactly is back translation and what does it involve? Back translation is usually the last stage in a translation and is most likely to take place after editing and proofreading. For example. imagine that a document has been translated from English into Chinese (or vice versa). Once the main translation has been completed, a back translation would involve the text being translated back again into the original language, so in the example just given it would mean translating back from Chines into English. The back translation, like proofreading is most effective when it is done by a translator who is not the same person who did the forward translation.

Why complete a back translation?

At first sight, it seems unnecessary to double the workload if a translation service provider has been chosen to do the original translation who is competent and experienced. However, it is amazing how back translation can reveal errors in meaning which never show up with proof reading, so it is something which is definitely worth doing if accuracy is paramount.

The sorts of documents that benefit from back translation are things like instruction manuals, technical documents, legal documents of all types and medical instrumentation information and dosage instructions. The list could be expanded to include any sort of translation which requires extreme accuracy and where errors in meaning could end up being costly mistakes or even result in harm.

If your business depends on translation but you are unsure about the accuracy of a translation service provider you are using for the first time, performing a back translation with another translator will serve to illustrate just how good the original translation was. This might be a lot cheaper than losing valuable clients or even being involved in a lawsuit because of an inaccuracy in a translation!