Recently, Google announced an upgrade to their free online Google Translation napplication, which is now an interactive service that allows users to improve the quality of their translation by rating the resulting translation.

MediPurpose® is an international master medical product distributor that currently offers medical products in more than 30 countries. We are always striving to improve our ability to communicate both accurately and succinctly with our partners around the world.

As I reviewed the new feature, I was not surprised by the some of the feedback offered by others regarding the service.  Some indicated it “would be helpful,” while others voiced an opinion that you can “get the gist, but not the translations.”  It was also no surprise that still others felt that a "computerized translation" will never be adequate for all purposes.

Thinking back on how MediPurpose has approached translations for our babyLance® heel incision device, it reminded me of the importance that translations have when you are a medical device manufacturer and distributor. Aside from the physical labeling of the product (e.g., brand name, package contents), writing and translating the IFU (instructions for use) is perhaps the most critical component of the labeling process, as it is often the most singular document that details the proper use of your device.

Whether it’s for medical device IFUs or not, the seemingly simple task of translating any text is compounded by the notions that:

• Languages are inherently ambiguous. Medical device IFUs most certainly should not contain ambiguities, as that could result in an end-user potentially misusing the device, which might impact either their own or their patients' safety.

• There is no such thing as one proper translation—even within the same language. Our babyLance® display box is labeled with French, German and Spanish versions of the IFU. But despite our best efforts (and due to the complexities of linguistics), it was impossible to draft a multilingual IFU that would be considered a perfect translation. When drafting and translating the IFU copy, we reached out to our international partners for guidance on the respective translations. As expected, each of our three French sources provided translations that although similar, still had striking dissimilarities. The same held true for our Spanish and German translations. Because of the critical nature of getting the translations as accurate as possible, we consulted with a firm that specializes in medical translations. And as expected, after again asking for feedback from our international partners, each said that the translations conveyed the desired actions without ambiguity—due in no small part to avoiding the specific peculiarities of each partner’s preferred use of the language.

• Translations magnify the semantic differences between the literal (closely following the grammatical and lexical form of the language) and the idiomatic (communicating the meaning of the source text). This essentially illustrates the conflicts between the partners’ translations and the consultant’s. As where the former used literal phrasing, the consultant used idiomatic, which results in much less ambiguity.

• One letter can have major impact. In German, “Baby beginnt ein Gerät Ferse Einschnitt” translates to "Baby starts a device heel incision.” Although not the most elegant literal translation, it clearly and effectively conveys the idiomatic intend. However, one simple spelling error—such as omitting the "t" on the end of the "Einschnitt"—and the translation becomes "Baby starts a unit heel gashes"! In the neonatal world of heel incision devices, the difference between an "incision" and "gash" in clearly the difference between a positive and negative representation of your device! Remembering the difference in translations noted above, it is no surprise that at MediPurpose, we always make sure we "dot those i's and include those "t's."

In the coming weeks, MediPurpose will be launching an upgraded version of its Website, which will include a nifty Google Translation toolbar above every page, enabling instant translations for more than 50 languages. Although it predictably won’t deliver the most elegant or accurate translations, we are confident that it will have enough balance of the literal and the idiomatic so that we can relate the fundamental message and better serve our worldwide partners and their customers and patients.

Randy Prather | President and COO | MediPurpose®