Language localization in scientific drug information
Although localization is, in the first place, related to the cultural adaptation and translation of software and websites, it is important for written materials as well. In this paper we investigate how specialized medical discourse used in the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) is localized in patient leaflets (PL). Both documents are issued by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and provide detailed information on the product compiled and distributed by the drug manufacturer, after EMA review and approval. We describe by means of a case study the formal and linguistic features of SmPCs and PLs and we investigate how the specialized source text is localized in its patient-friendly version. The aim of this investigation is to increase awareness and understanding of localization strategies adopted on the intralingual level in the communication of scientific-medical knowledge to a non-expert audience.
References
Becker, Andrea
2001 Populärmedizinische Vermittlungstexte: Studien zur Geschichte und Gegenwart fachexterner Vermittlungsvarietäten. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
Berry, Dianne
2004 “Patient information leaflets and provision of written information.” In
Risk, Communication and Health Psychology, edited by
S.H. Payne, 99–101.
Bucciarelli, Paolo, Ramona Bongelli, Andrzej Zuczkowski, Sibilla Cantarini, and Christine Berthold
Cacchiani, Silvia
2006 “Dis/Similarities between Patient Information Leaflets in Britain and Italy: Implications for the Translator.” In
New Voices in Translation Studies 21: 28–43.
Clerehan, Rosemary
2014 “Quality and usefulness of written communication for patients.” In
The Routlegde Handboek of Language and Health Communication, edited by
Heidi Hamilton and
Sylvia Chou Wen-ying, 212–227. London and New York: Routledge.
Clerehan, Rosemary, Rachelle Buchbinder, and Jane Moodie
2005 “A linguistic framework for assessing the quality of written patient information: its use in assessing methotrexate information for rheumatoid arthritis.” In
Health Education Research 201: 334–344.
Clerehan, Rosemary, David Hirsh, and Rachelle Buchbinder
2009 “Medication information leaflets for patients: the further validation of an analytic linguistic framework.” In
Communication and Medicine (61): 117–127.
Cronin, Michael
2003 Translation and Globalization. London-New York: Routledge.
Danneberg, Lutz, and Jürg Niederhauser
1998 Darstellungsformen der Wissenschaften im Kontrast: Aspekte der Methodik, Theorie und Empirie. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
Dawkins, Richard
2009 The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing. Oxford: University Press.
Dickinson, David R
2003 “What information do patients need about medicines?” British Medical Journal 3271: 861–864.
Edwards, Adrian, Glyn Elwyn, Judith Covey, Elaine Pill, and Rolsin Matthews
2001 “A Review of the Effects of Framing and other Manipulations on Patient Outcomes.” In
Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives 6 (1): 61–82.
Esselink, Bert
2006 “The Evolution of Localization.” In
Translation Technology and its Teaching (With Much Mention of Localization), edited by
A. Pym,
A. Perekrestenko and
B. Starink, 22–29. Tarragona: Intercultural Studies.
European Medicines Agency
2009 A Guideline on Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC).
September. 1–29. Accessed 2014
[URL].
Fage-Butler, Antoinette
2013 “Improving patient information leaflets: Developing and applying an evaluative model of patient centeredness for text.” In
Communication & Medicine 10 (2).
Fossati Wood, Linda
2009 “Investigational medicinal products dossier.” In
Targeted Regulatory Writing Techniques: Clinical Documents for Drugs and Biologics, edited by
M.A. Fossati Wood L., 121–124. Basel: Birkhäuser.
Furmaniak, Grégory, and Elsa Pic
Garner, Marc, Zhenye Ning, and Jill Francis
2012 “A framework for the evaluation of patient information leaflets.” In
Health Expectations 15 (3): 283–294.
Gil, José, and Anthony Pym
2006 “
Technology and Translation: A Pedagogical Overview”. In
Translation Technology and its Teaching (With Much Mention of Localization), edited by
A. Pym,
A. Perekrestenko and
B. Starink, 5–19. Tarragona: Intercultural Studies Group.
Guidère, Mathieu
2003 The translation of advertisements: from adaptation to localization. Retrieved August 1, 2015 from
[URL].
Halliday, Michael A.K
1985/1994 An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Hamilton, Heidi, and Sylvia Chou Wen-Ying
2014 “ Health Communication as Applied Linguistics”. In
The Routledge Handbook of Language and Health Communication, edited by
H. Hamilton and
S. Wen-ying, 1–12. London and New York: Routledge.
Harvey, Kevin, and Nelya Koteyko
2012 Exploring Health Communication: Language in Action. London and New York: Routledge.
Holmes, James
1988 Translated papers on literary translation and translation Studies. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Hoorickx-Raucq, Isabelle
2005 “Mediating the Scientific Text. A Cultural Approach to the Discourse of Science in some English and French Publications and TV Documentaries.” In
The Journal of Specialised Translation (31): 97–108.
Hyland, Ken, and Françoise Salager-Meyer
2008 “Scienitifc Writing.” In
Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 42 (1): 297–338.
Jakobson, Roman
2000 “On linguistics aspects of translation (1959/2000).” In
The Translation Studies Reader, edited by
L. Venuti, 113–118. London and New York: Routledge.
Kreps, Gary, and Ellen Bonaguro
2009 “Health communication as applied communication inquiry.” In
Routledge Handbook of Applied Communication Research, edited by
L. Frey and
K. Cissna, 380–404. London and New York: Routledge.
Ludvigsson, Jonas
2009 “Lost in translation, or how to translate a medical textbook.” In
Acta Paediatrica 1893–1895.
Maumevičien, Dainora
2012 “Linguistic Insights into Localisation.” Vol. 71, in
Translation and the reconfiguration of power relations. Revisiting role and context of translation and interpreting, by
B. Fischer and
M. Nisbeth Jensen, edited by
B. Fischer and
M. Nisbeth Jensen, 109–126. Graz: LIT-Verlag.
McNamara, D.S., E. Kintsch, N.B. Songer, and W. Kintsch
1996 “Are Good Texts Always Better? Interactions of Text Coherence, Background Knowledge, and Levels of Understanding in Learning from Text.” In
Cognition and Instruction 141: 1–43.
Montalt, Vicent, and Maria Gonzalez-Davies
2007 Medical Translation step by step: learning by drafting. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
Motos Martinez, Raquel
2012 “Models of quality assessment for patient package inserts in English and Spanish: a review from the translation perspective.” In
Translation and the Reconfiguration of Power relations. Revisiting Role and Context of Translation and Interpreting, edited by
B. Fischer and
Nisbeth Jensen, 259–277. Vienna: LIT.
Niederhauser, Jürg
1993 “Von der Wissenschaft in die Öffentlichkeit. Zur linguistischen Untersuchung fachexterner Wissenschaftskommunikation.” In
Acta Romania Basilensia I1, 201–212.
Niederhauser, Jürg
1997 “Das Schreiben populärwissenschaftlicher Texte als Transfer wissenschaftlicher Texte.” In
Schreiben in den Wissenschaften, edited by
E.-M. Jakobs and
D. Knorr, 107–122. Frankfurt/Main: Lang.
Nisbeth Jensen, Matilde
2012 “Patient information tranlators in the EU: mapping the potential competencies of professional translators and pharamcists-cum-translators.” In
Translation and the reconfiguration of power relations. Revisiting role and context of translation and interpreting, 237–256. Vienna: LIT.
Nisbeth Jensen, Mathilde, and Karen Korning Zethsen
2012 “Translation and patient information leaflets: trained translators and pharmacistis-cum-laude - a comparison.” In
Linguistica Antverpiensia NS- Themes in Translation Studies 111: 31–50.
Nord, Christiane
1997 Translating as a Purposeful Activity: Functionalist Approaches Explained. Manchester: St. Jeroms Publishing.
O’Hagan, Minako, and David Ashworth
2002 Translation-mediated Communication in a Digital World: Facing the Challenges of Globalization and Localization. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Pander Maat, H, and L. Lenz
2010 “Written patient information: improving the usability of patient information leaflets.” In
Patient Education and Counceling (801): 113–119.
Pym, A
2008 “
Localization from the Perspective of Translation Studies: Overlaps in the Digital Divide?”. Accessed 2016.
[URL].
Pym, A
2010 Exploring Translation Theories. London/New York: Routledge.
Schäler, Reinhard
2010 “Localization and translation.” Vol. 11, in
Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by
Y. Gambier and
L. Van Doorslaer, 209–214. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Serra-Borneto, Carlo
1986 “Einsteins Relativitätstheorie. Strategien der Popularisierung von Comics bis zum Sachbuch.” In
Wissenschaftssprache und Gesellschaft. Aspekte des Wissenstransfers in der heutigen Zeit, edited by
Theo Bungarten, 350–366. Hamburg: Edition Akademion.
Verplaetse, Heidi, and Maria-Cornelia Wermuth
2014 “Keys for reader response to written healthcare communication: A contrastive study of English and translated German patient information leaflets (PILs).” In
Turjuman (Université Abdelmalek Essaâdi, Maroc) 23 (2): 11–45.
Whatley, Shawn, Muhammad Mamdani, and Ross Upshur
2002 “A randomised comparison of the effect of three patient information leaflet models on older patient’s treatment intentions.” In
British Journal of General Practice 52 (479): 483–84.
Wright, Peter
1999 “Writing and information design of healthcare materials.” In
Writing: Texts, Processes and Practices, edited by
C. Candlin and
K. Hyland, 85–98. London: Longman.
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
O’Hagan, Minako, Julie McDonough Dolmaya & Hendrik J. Kockaert
[no author supplied]
2021.
Localization of conceptual information in intercultural dialogue.
Teaching languages at higher institutions :38
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.