Admission requirements
This course is open only to students registered for the Translation specialization.
Description
Medical translation stands as one of the most sought-after specializations in the linguistic industry. With rapid advancements in science and technology, there has been a significant surge in demand for specialized translators in this field.
The role of translated content in shaping and disseminating medical and biomedical knowledge is pivotal. This specialized knowledge finds application and dissemination in various intercultural settings. Medical and biomedical content is found in expert-to-expert communication (e.g., clinical study reports, clinical trial protocols, and journal articles) and expert-to-layperson communication, or vice-versa (e.g., patient information leaflets, informed consents, newspaper articles, press conferences, advertisements).
This Medical Translation course aims to provide students with the starting competences needed to edit, translate, and revise medical and biomedical text types in English and Dutch. Students will be introduced to medical and biomedical translation and its specificities in interactive lectures.
After the introductory lectures, they will solve problems common to medical translation and intercultural communication in healthcare settings through hands-on practice with diversified texts. These challenges include sourcing appropriate references, acquiring domain-specific knowledge, and translating specialized (audio-visual) texts in line with relevant norms or style guides. To that end, students will work in language-specific groups to edit, translate and revise medical and biomedical content with different levels of specialisation and complexity aimed at different audiences, thus gaining an extensive theoretical and practical introduction to the field. While translating, they will maintain their own specialized terminology in a terminological database using specialized software.
Students will also gain experience in revision, adhering to industry standards, and practice skills in giving and receiving constructive feedback. They will cultivate a critical approach towards various forms of translation quality through the analysis and revision of peer translations. In addition, students will learn to make critical and responsible choices about whether or not to use specific translation tools, such as terminology management systems, translation memory systems, and machine translation.
Course objectives
The course aims to familiarise students with
medical terminology and phraseology
medical genres, their communicative purpose, and their archetypal structure and form
medical translators’, revisers’ and readers’ expectations
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
recognise a range of document types from a variety of professional contexts, and their function, structure and form -> Digital skills, Generating Solutions
solve problems common to medical translation and intercultural communication in healthcare settings -> Societal awareness, Project-based working, Generating Solutions
summarise, rephrase, restructure, and shorten, and adapt medical content according to readers’ needs, and draft texts for specific purposes -> Writting communication, Project-based working
use and apply research-based thematic and domain-specific knowledge relevant to translation needs, using the most appropriate digital tools (e.g., search engines, corpus-based tools, text analysis tools) -> Digital skills, Researching
draw appropriate strategies from translation-specific resources (e.g., style guides) -> Digital skills
translate and revise medical content from English into Dutch, and from Dutch into English, applying professional standards -> Societal awareness, Project-based working
translate and post-edit different types of (audio-visual) texts for different kinds of outputs and target audiences, using the most relevant translation technologies -> Writting communication, Colaborating, Digital skills, Project-based working
explain the translation and adaptation options applicable to medical and biomedical texts with different levels of specialisation and complexity aimed at different audiences -> Reflecting, Writting communication, Colaborating, Project-based working
revise own work and that of words following industry quality standards -> Reflecting, Writting communication, Colaborating
during the translation process, adequately apply an advanced degree of contrastive linguistic expertise of Dutch and English -> Writting communication
plan and manage time efficiently, adhering to deadlines and effectively managing workload -> Project-based working, Resilience
work both independently and in multicultural and multilingual teams, using appropriate communication technologies -> Project-based working, Colaborating, Digital skills
monitor and adapt to new societal demands, market requirements and emerging job profiles. -> Societal awareness, Reflecting
critically assess the relevance and impact of translation technologies on professional practices. -> Digital skills, Societal awareness, Reflecting
independently collect, interpret and critically reflect on relevant literature, identifying new trends and diverse methodologies. -> Researching, Generating Solutions, Digital skills, Independent learning, Writting communication.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Individual work in the Translation Lab
Assessment method
Assessment
Portfolio of annotated translations (50%)
Research paper (50%)
Weighing
All components have to be at least 6.0.
Resit
There will be a resit opportunity for each of the course components. Students can resit a course component if the mark for the component is a fail.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Montalt, Vicent & González, Maria. 2007. Medical Translation Step by Step. Learning by Drafting. Manchester, UK/Kinderhook (NY), USA: St. Jerome.
Friedbichler, Michael & Ingrid Friedbichler. 2009. Pinkhof Medisch Engels. Bohn Stafleu van Loghum.
Additional bibliography and the reader will be provided at the beginning of the course reflecting the specific language combinations of the students, Brightspace
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about registering for courses and exams can be found here.
Registration Studeren à la carte en Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions regarding enrollment please contact the Education Administration Office Reuvensplaats.