Caduceus (newsletter of the ATA Medical Division ): YOU can be a writer!
Thread poster: Elena Sgarbo (X)
Elena Sgarbo (X)
Elena Sgarbo (X)  Identity Verified
Italian to English
+ ...
Mar 9, 2004

Dear all,

A young branch of the American Translators Association, ATA’s Medical Division, has just published the Winter issue of its quarterly newsletter Caduceus.

As a Caduceus editor, I’d like to invite your input for our upcoming issues. We welcome collaborations for most of our newsletter sections, including "Glossarium: Words about Words", and "Pitfalls and Caveats." In "Pitfalls and Caveats" we will feature examples of language difficulties or tr
... See more
Dear all,

A young branch of the American Translators Association, ATA’s Medical Division, has just published the Winter issue of its quarterly newsletter Caduceus.

As a Caduceus editor, I’d like to invite your input for our upcoming issues. We welcome collaborations for most of our newsletter sections, including "Glossarium: Words about Words", and "Pitfalls and Caveats." In "Pitfalls and Caveats" we will feature examples of language difficulties or translation problems related to Medicine and Patient Care, Medical Research, and Science. In the current "Pitfalls and Caveats" column you will find a partial list of medical abbreviations that have two or more meanings -and thus are a common source of translator headaches.

We would like to keep presenting challenging linguistic situations that arise within English, between English and Spanish, or in the translation into English from other languages.

Our question to our ProZ colleagues is: In your own work translating or editing medical material, have you ever been confronted with confusing or puzzling terms or sentences? Could your examples and insight help other language professionals prevent error or overcome difficulties?

If your answer is “yes,” please write about your experiences. Send us your contribution to Caduceus. You will be acknowledged as a contributor by name (or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, you will be identified only as a “ProZ.com member”).

You could be helping us to present material that is priceless to fellow translators –and might indirectly help patients.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks,
Elena

[Edited at 2005-01-06 14:42]
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Elena Sgarbo (X)
Elena Sgarbo (X)  Identity Verified
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanking Gilberto Lacchia, inviting more collaborators Jun 11, 2004

The Spring issue of Caduceus has just been published! In it, you will find a very interesting article by our ProZ colleague Gilberto Lacchia about PubMed, with tips to conduct the best medical language searches. Gilberto has become an enthusiastic and insightful permanent collaborator. Congratulations, Gilberto, and welcome aboard!

Caduceus’s Editor (Dr Rivera) and I would also like to thank all the comments and feedback sent in by several ProZ members. We really ap
... See more
The Spring issue of Caduceus has just been published! In it, you will find a very interesting article by our ProZ colleague Gilberto Lacchia about PubMed, with tips to conduct the best medical language searches. Gilberto has become an enthusiastic and insightful permanent collaborator. Congratulations, Gilberto, and welcome aboard!

Caduceus’s Editor (Dr Rivera) and I would also like to thank all the comments and feedback sent in by several ProZ members. We really appreciate it! Input from translators and linguists is invaluable for our main mission at Caduceus:to help medical translators in their often difficult job.

And, Caduceus Summer is already “cooking”... So: Do you have a medical language vignette or a translation tip that you think may help other translators? Don’t hesitate: share your expertise!

All insightful contributions are welcome, from short tidbits (150-200 words) to full-length articles (2000 words). Please submit them to us.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Elena
Assistant Editor, Caduceus

[Edited at 2004-09-30 02:26]
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tnkw (X)
tnkw (X)
Local time: 09:35
Spanish to English
+ ...
Translation problems - abbreviations Jul 27, 2004

A physician in Madrid once told me, prior to answering a list of questions relating to Spanish medical abbreviations, that it was not an entirely ridiculous statement to say that each hospital in Spain has its own set of clinical abbreviations. What an encouraging piece of news!

I do believe that, between us, translators working in either direction could produce a valuable resource if we were to pool our collective experience in this area, also that we could build up a really useful
... See more
A physician in Madrid once told me, prior to answering a list of questions relating to Spanish medical abbreviations, that it was not an entirely ridiculous statement to say that each hospital in Spain has its own set of clinical abbreviations. What an encouraging piece of news!

I do believe that, between us, translators working in either direction could produce a valuable resource if we were to pool our collective experience in this area, also that we could build up a really useful semi-encyclopædic dictionary of terms and abbreviations used in clinical and pharmaceutical practice, including regulatory affairs. With the advance of 'standard terms' within the area covered by the EMEA (European Medicines Evaluation Agency) it is probably no bad thing to get used to using standard, agreed terms.

I have often wondered if it would be worth sponsoring a suitably qualified person or persons (with expert knowledge of both languages and subject matter) to undertake such a collating exercise. Since there are few really good Spanish-English medical dictionaries (I have seen none that is equivalent to Bunjes or Roche for German-English or to Flammarion for French-English), there may well be a niche in the market for a publication that would appeal to prospective purchasers far beyond the ranks of translators working in these fields.

If any rubbish is discovered in our invididual collections of terms and abbreviations, we can pile it all into an enormous heap and make a huge bonfire. I have one redundant Spanish medical dictionary, which shall remain nameless, which I will be happy to offer as kindling! The first person to guess the name of this publication can throw the lighted match onto the pyre!

I ought, given the illustrious nature and reputation of the ATA, to confess at this point that I write as a translator with formal qualifications that go no farther than one British 'A' level in foreign languages, along with three at 'O' Level.

I am not a member of any of the British associations that represent translators, since I have been informed that my lack of a university degree disqualifies me from being admitted to their ranks. Readers may wish to bear this in mind before considering how much weight to accord to my thoughts.

Congratulations, finally, to Elena for her initiative.

Saludos más cordiales a todos.

Nicholas (tnkw)
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Elena Sgarbo (X)
Elena Sgarbo (X)  Identity Verified
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Input from translators Sep 21, 2004

tnkw wrote:
I ought, given the illustrious nature and reputation of the ATA, to confess at this point that I write as a translator with formal qualifications that go no farther than one British 'A' level in foreign languages, along with three at 'O' Level.

Nicholas,

If all the people with your same formal qualifications provided the same level of medical translations as you do, the rest of us would soon be out of business

Your medical answers in the KudoZ section are usually very sharp!

Congratulations, finally, to Elena for her initiative.

Thanks, Nicholas. You're extremely kind! At Caduceus we do strive to reflect some of that collective pool of knowledge that you mention.

We need as much input from translators as possible!

Elena

[Edited at 2004-09-22 12:54]


 
Elena Sgarbo (X)
Elena Sgarbo (X)  Identity Verified
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Fall-Winter issue: ProZians as article authors Jan 5, 2005

The combined Fall-Winter issue of Caduceus is out, with over 35 pages of reading material. For example:

- A very comprehensive Glossary of Terms Used in Clinical Research, by Marina Callegari and our Staff Editor Gilberto Lacchia;

- El Dr. Fernando Navarro en la Jornada de Traducción Internacional - Rosario, Argentina, 2004 (Dr. Fernando Navarro at the Int.l Translation Symposium - Rosario, Argentina, 2004), by Andrea Alí.

... See more
The combined Fall-Winter issue of Caduceus is out, with over 35 pages of reading material. For example:

- A very comprehensive Glossary of Terms Used in Clinical Research, by Marina Callegari and our Staff Editor Gilberto Lacchia;

- El Dr. Fernando Navarro en la Jornada de Traducción Internacional - Rosario, Argentina, 2004 (Dr. Fernando Navarro at the Int.l Translation Symposium - Rosario, Argentina, 2004), by Andrea Alí.

- Analyzing the analyzers: the Russian concept of "analyzers", by Andrey Azov ("Drunya").

We also feature the topic "Atherothrombosis" with an extensive article by our Editor plus an article on etymology & meaning entitled "Atherothrombosis: a Word Whose Time has Come", for which I've teamed up with renowned Cardiologist Eric Topol (Dr. Topol is not a ProZian but is the most prolific medical author I know, with over 900 publications --and still very far from retirement).


.... Thanks everyone for making Caduceus ever more interesting.

And please, keep submitting your contributions for publication! Your insight as a translator/linguist will be truly appreciated by our readers.

Elena

[Edited at 2005-01-07 14:31]
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Elena Sgarbo (X)
Elena Sgarbo (X)  Identity Verified
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Caduceus Spring 2005 and ProZian authors Jun 17, 2005

The Spring season found Caduceus renovated. Our ATA medical newsletter boasts a new design. It's easy to read, visually appealing -and we've recevied a lot of positive feedback on it!

And, in Caduceus... ProZ has made its mark again!

In our Spring issue, the lead article is a fascinating piece by Andrey Azov, a.ka. "Drunya" in ProZ. Andrey delves into Genetics to explain to us some of the Stories Behind Gene Names. Here are a f
... See more
The Spring season found Caduceus renovated. Our ATA medical newsletter boasts a new design. It's easy to read, visually appealing -and we've recevied a lot of positive feedback on it!

And, in Caduceus... ProZ has made its mark again!

In our Spring issue, the lead article is a fascinating piece by Andrey Azov, a.ka. "Drunya" in ProZ. Andrey delves into Genetics to explain to us some of the Stories Behind Gene Names. Here are a few examples of genes described in flies:

- malvolio (the gene is needed for normal sense of taste; otherwise the mutants, as Malvolio of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, would “taste with distempered appetite”)
- hamlet (named for Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy, because in flies the mutation affects development of IIB cells)
- tinman (mutants lack the heart, as did Tin Woodman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)

.... Don't miss the entire article!

Also, Caduceus staff editor and ProZ medical KudoZ leader Gilberto Lacchia discusses everything you need to know about bilingual and multilingual websites. In a separate article, Gilberto suggests ways to find translations for chemical names.

There's also our Glossary of (confusing) medical abbreviations, compiled by yours truly.

Caduceus Spring is packed with much more.

Thanks to all ProZians for your contributions to Caduceus. Keep submitting them!!

Elena

[Edited at 2005-06-17 01:39]
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Vito Smolej
Vito Smolej
Germany
Local time: 10:35
Member (2004)
English to Slovenian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
here's one ambiguous term I successfully (?) mastered just an hour ago Jan 6, 2006

i.e.

is usually (99%) id est. Or it can also be "in essence" - not that it would matter much. But it does matter much sometimes - so (suggestion) why not write it out in the first place?

On top of the fact that ie (or IE) stands for (slovenian) translation of IU

smo

PS: with IU meaning NOT intrauterine something but International Units


 


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Caduceus (newsletter of the ATA Medical Division ): YOU can be a writer!






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