S05E01: Medical Content Translation

Intro

Hello and welcome to the Translation Company Talk, a weekly podcast show focusing on translation services and the language industry. The Translation Company Talk covers topics of interest for professionals engaged in the business of translation, localization, transcription, interpreting, and language technology. The Translation Company Talk is sponsored by Hybrid Lynx. Your host is Sultan Ghaznawi with today’s episode.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Welcome to today’s episode of the Translation Company Talk podcast. Today we will be hearing from Linda Saucedo about the field of medical translation. Receiving a diagnosis of a serious disease is not only scary, but it is often accompanied by many questions. For those patients who speak little or no English, communication is often an additional barrier between them and health care providers. The medical industry relies on translation services to make treatments and medication understandable to patients speaking various languages. This makes efficient communication possible between physicians, patients, and other health care professionals.

 

Having immigrated to the US at the age of 15, Linda knows firsthand the difficulties that individuals are faced with when learning the English language, as well as the challenges of becoming acclimated to the health care system in this country. Her own personal understanding of these challenges, education, professional experience and her passion for providing health information to the public, language and culture led her to pursue a career in the translation and localization industry.

 

Linda is the Manager of the Translation Program at Publicist Sapient. She has more than 15 years of experience leveraging clinical and medical research as well as translation and localization services expertise. She uses this experience to plan, execute and manage projects aimed at delivering timely and relevant health information to Spanish-speaking audiences.

 

Linda brings years of experience managing and providing English to Spanish translation and localization services to the National Cancer Institute Office of Communication and Public Liaison. She has extensive knowledge of translation technology and experience of overall localization business and its application to client’s strategy.

 

Linda, good morning and welcome to the Translation Company Talk. How are you today?

 

Linda Saucedo

I’m good, thank you. How are you?

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

I’m very well, thank you. I’m so pleased that you’re here. To get started, let’s get an introduction out of the way so the listeners of the podcast know about who you are and what you do.

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes, of course. First of all, it’s a pleasure to be here. My name is Linda Saucedo. I have a BS in biochemistry and spent nine years working at a small pharmaceutical company after graduating from college. This job granted me the opportunity to also work as a research assistant at the National Institute of Child Health and Development at The National Institute of Health. After a few years, I then continued being a research assistant for the Bone Marrow Registry at Georgetown University. I decided then to pursue job opportunities in the health communication field, which allowed me to start learning about medical translation.

 

As a result, my interest in medical translation grew tremendously. I started taking some courses and then after a few years working in the industry, I decided to pursue my master’s degree in translation in product management and localization. Today, I am the translation program manager at Publicis Sapien. With more than 20 years of experience providing medical translation and localization services. Our team is responsible for the translation and localization of the National Cancer Institute’s Spanish site, and we also provide these services to other divisions and offices at the National Cancer Institute, including some of their microsites.

 

I am a certified project management professional and have been able to combine my clinical and research background with my translation services experience to execute, and manage projects, targeting, and delivering timely and relevant health information through print media and website communications to members of the Hispanic community. I also have extensive knowledge of translational technology and content management systems and expertise in the overall localization business and its applications to our client strategy. I have also led all efforts for the translation team to pursue and maintain ISO 17100 certification to ensure that, and I continue to ensure, the team is meeting certification standards and qualifications.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

What an interesting story, very fascinating. Linda, what motivated you to join the language industry? What was the driving factor?

 

Linda Saucedo

My life, in retrospect, has been devoted to learning and making sure that my profession helps to improve the health and lives of others. Coming from a family of doctors and nurses, I became interested in the medical field at a very early age. I was very fortunate to come to this Country to continue my High School studies when I was 14 years old. After graduating, I decided to stay in the United States and pursue a career in the medical field. It was during my high school years, and then doing internships as a college student in a large hospital, also working at an orthopedic practice, and meeting Spanish speakers during my year working in research that I started to notice the need for language services.

 

Spanish-speaking patients and their families were struggling to understand doctors’ instructions and the healthcare system. It was at this moment when I decided that I wanted a career that would allow me to use my degree and background in medical research, linguistics, and my passion for languages and culture to greatly impact the flow of critical health information to Spanish-speaking individuals.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Looking back, Linda, what are some of the interesting events and concepts that have stood out to you in a revolutionary sense that have changed the industry?

 

Linda Saucedo

Yeah, this is a great question. One of them is technology and how it has become so important in today’s globalized world and how it is helping businesses. Technology has brought many opportunities for language service providers. Also, another one is COVID, the most recent one. I mean, it really highlighted the significant problem we have in health disparities and how some communities were more negatively impacted with worse outcomes. So, I feel like the work that we do became so important and how we were translating and disseminating, in my case, to the Spanish-speaking families and to do it accurately and quickly during this global pandemic.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Well, that’s fascinating and very interesting for me. You combined multiple factors, including technology and COVID, which people would say that like 9-ged the course of the history of the world and obviously had a deep impact on our industry. But today I have invited you, Linda, to speak about medical translation, which is an area that you’re intimately familiar with. It’s so close and dear to you. Give us a high-level view of the state of translation for the medical industry.

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes, so we know that the medical industry is highly regulated and understand the importance of working with a reputable, experienced language service provider that places importance on maintaining certifications or compliance, for example, with ISO standards. Displaying commitment to the medical industry is vital. As LSPs or organizations like ours specialize in medical translation, we know what’s required to help clients navigate their requirements and employ professional and experienced translators. From my years working in this industry, I have experienced the growth of the industry, the need for medical translation, the advances in medicine and technology, different verticals and specializations, and the skills a professional translator needs to succeed in an industry that continues to evolve.

 

The market may seem very saturated, but I feel that we shouldn’t get discouraged. The challenges have multiplied, but so have the opportunities if we open our minds to them. I have also noticed that there are more interesting and different approaches to medical translations. For example, the use of plain language for patient content, to ensure that the information is easy to understand. I think we should continue to learn about the new AI technologies and its possible use for the medical industry, which are going to be the best solutions to use, the use of machine translation, reassuring that our clients know that we also take into consideration that the accuracy and the quality of the translations are our top priorities. And that the translator’s role is vital during the translation process. And the topic of data privacy and security is very important for our clients and how are we addressing this?

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

You covered a variety of areas that we normally don’t think about when it comes to translation, but the medical industry has specific reservations about those. In your opinion, Linda, why should medical content be treated differently from any other type of content? Of course, we know that there could be critical implications for wrong translation when it comes to quality.

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes, that’s correct. I mean, mistranslation could impact us, patients’ healthcare, compliance with treatment and medicine dosage, et cetera. In my opinion, we should treat medical content differently because clear and effective communication in the medical field is crucial. There is a lot of medical misinformation in it, and it is our responsibility as professionals to provide trustworthy medical information. Miscommunication can result in wrong diagnosis, as we know, on treatment plans, or even lead to serious health problems like infection and diseases.

Medical technology is precise. Minor inaccuracies can seriously affect a patient’s safety. So as a professional, medical translation services are crucial for ensuring accurate and effective communication between healthcare providers and non-native speakers.

 

Medical translation services, I believe, are essential for healthcare professionals, job manufacturers, medical institutions, and other medical industries. Also, medical translation can be very helpful in engaging patients in clinical trials because it allows for effective communication between the research team and the patients and their families. We know that there is a lack of trust due to historical maltreatment, and thus they may be more likely to avoid clinical trials. So, translating correctly and in a culturally sensitive manner all the relevant information can help ensure that the patient’s medical care is appropriately coordinated and that any treatment or follow-up care is provided in a way that is consistent with the patient’s needs and preferences.

 

I mean, ultimately, we will be building trust and improving the chances of patient recruitment and retention success and outcomes worldwide. So, it is essential to work with professional medical translators with the necessary skills and expertise to translate complex medical terminology and concepts accurately using a language that is appropriate for the intended audience.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Speaking of medical translators and the expertise that they bring in, how is the resource availability situation when it comes to translation of medical content today?

 

Linda Saucedo

That’s a great question. Sometimes I find that it’s difficult to find professionals and experienced medical translators, who specialize in specific areas of medicine and healthcare and that understand the complex medical terminology and concepts. For example, for our team, it is vital that the medical translator has extensive knowledge of oncology-related terminology. It’s important, I feel, to identify the qualifications and competencies needed in a given team, and consider asking, for example, to complete a medical translation assessment so one can evaluate the knowledge and skills and experience of the translator.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

To enable medical translation capability, you just mentioned, what do professionally trained translators need to do and to learn in order to get there?

 

Linda Saucedo

Yeah, this is a very good question. I think they want to start by determining if they want to work for an LSP or an organization like ours, the type of schedules they would like to work, learn about the translation team needs and requirements, what are the client’s needs and requirements, the type of content that they will be translating. The domain and verticals of the CAD tools, software, and CMS that are used, just to name a few. Also, to continue learning about technology, and medical translation-related topics. Keep attuned to research our language and every topic we translate because this research trains us too.

 

Learning new technologies will also push us more into that. And we have to remember that, especially the translators, they understand the cultural nuances. And they are the ones helping to deliver a culturally acceptable product. And be able to adapt to changes. Because clients may have different priorities and different initiatives and to be able to work in agile environments. And lastly, for them to remember that their knowledge and expertise will continue to be vital in this industry, even with the rise of new technologies.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

There are LSP’s that are specialized, as you mentioned, in delivering medical translation services. Linda, what makes them good at it? And what are the criteria for success?

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes. So, I believe every LSP has their own definition of success. And their strengths may be different. Some may cater to different industry variables, such as pharmaceuticals, medical services, clinical trials, website translation, and localization. Just to name a few. However, they all have industry knowledge and years of experience. They have teams of certified and qualified medical translators. Their approach to project management. Some of them have a track record of quality translation and client satisfaction. They also have technical knowledge and expertise. And they have ISO certification or robust workflow management systems and experience with the technology. I also believe that criteria for success is understanding the client’s visions, their needs and requirements. For LSP to take the time to listen and understand clients’ pain points, identify where they can offer personalized attention and support to meet the unique needs of healthcare providers, the federal agencies, organizations, etc. and assist them in evaluating what brings the most value. Help them expand their knowledge of transformation as well.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

For organizations like yours, Linda. What is the impact you would like to see by delivering translation in any foreign language?

 

Linda Saucedo

I would like to see by delivering translations, particularly in Spanish and other languages. The timely and accurate dissemination of free services, serving those affected, in our case, by cancer. Including healthy individuals who may benefit from prevention and early detection strategies and patients, caregivers, and cancer survivors. Also, to make effective communication possible between physicians, patients, and other healthcare providers. And additionally, to engage our clients, partners across the United States and the world.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Okay. And what about the process? Let’s talk about that for a moment, Linda. What is involved in translating medical content? To start with no translation, an organization which may not have any translation assets or processes or people in place and they’re starting from the ground up. What do they need to acquire the optimal translation output?

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes. So, I think that depends a lot on the translation team’s needs and the client’s needs and their requirements. From my experience, I remember at the beginning we were not using translation technology. And little by little we started introducing it. But first, we took the time to do our research, look into different technologies, and determine which one was going to work for the team. Also, we had to invest the time in training translators, once we decided on the translation technologies we were going to use. As far as the process. I understand that different LSP organizations may have different approaches and processes to translation and localization.

 

Ours, I can share a little bit of ours. We work very closely with the teams that are responsible for the English content. We have an initial review of the original documents to address any issues that may impact translation. We also collaborate with the information architecture team and the analytics teams who provide SEO findings and analytics, when needed from the English content, to inform the SEO discovery analysis and recommendations for the Spanish content. We also follow established translation workflows for all content types. I think having translation workflows is very important. And like I said, it may be slightly different depending on the type of content that one is translating.

 

Also, I feel that it’s very important to develop and maintain linguistic assets such as style guides having dictionaries or glossaries. It’s also very important for the translational process. In our case we do a lot of terminology management and that includes revising terminology all the time, because as you know, language evolves. Also, because we do SEO as part of our process, we do a lot of terminology extraction. We take a lot of time to maintain our terminology, databases, and the translation of memories that we have in our team. Especially now that we have been using machine translation.

 

So those are some of the areas that are important for our processes. We do have a lot of steps but for our clients, accuracy and quality are very important, and team collaborations, so that we are able to meet the deadlines and address the issues as quickly as possible as a team.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Thank you, Linda, that’s very detailed and I am glad you shared your perspective and your experience of the process for delivering translation in the medical context. Let me ask you about what are the different types of content that must be translated and adapted for this sector? You mentioned earlier that for patients, some content needs to be delivered in plain language, where clinicians and care providers may need the language in their own industry lingo. What are the classes of language or content that needs to be delivered and that you work with, and what type of translators do you need for those?

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes, our team is responsible for translating cancer-related content for health professionals and patients. We also have dictionaries of cancer terms and genetic terms. We also are responsible for the translations for multimedia and the clinical trial information. As far as the qualifications for the translators, in our team, all the translators have a science background. We have a physician, and she’s also certified as a terminologist, and is the one that does a lot of the terminology work and SEO. However, we are constantly training all the translators in different areas, because ultimately, they’re all working with this content, either the patient content or the health professional content.

 

The style guides are key, because it helps us understand, okay, when we’re translating a document that is for patients, these are the type of guidelines that we have to follow. As I mentioned, using plain language, inclusive language, ensuring that we’re using the tone and voice that the client has already decided, not only for the English, but also for the Spanish content. And then for the health professionals, and obviously, the register is higher.

 

So, terminology will be different. And then talking about terminology, because we work with two different audiences, we ensure that we have terms that can be used for the patient content, with a lower registry, and then terms that are, more technical, that are used in the health professional content.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Do you have any statistics, Linda, on how medical translation affects patients and care providers? How do you use them to guide your organization’s localization practices?

 

Linda Saucedo

For our content, our clients perform extensive audience research and usability testing on our content, both in Spanish and English. For example, they conduct stakeholder interviews, and they have what is called the user experience research weeks to gather information from users. These users are patients, they’re caregivers, they’re health professionals as well and then the data and the statistics are then presented and reviewed with different teams, including us and then we use this data to help us inform our content and our translation strategies.

 

We identify where the gaps are, and then that helps us determine where we need to make improvements because we want to ultimately ensure that this information is helpful to our audience. We can also request analytics reports from different tools, such as Crazy Egg and Activity Map, that allow us to analyze the data even further.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

No discussion is complete these days without talking about technology. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, technology has a place. And besides our standard TMS or translation management systems, that are prevalent across every vertical in our industry, what other technology enablers do you employ for delivering accurate medical translation?

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes, so besides the ones that you mentioned that we use, we also use terminology management solution. As I mentioned a little bit earlier, we have started to use neural machine translation, which has been integrated in our TMS workflows. We also use terminology extraction tools, and other software that allows us to generate reports that assist us in ensuring the consistency and accuracy of the terminology as well.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Linda, in our industry, in the translation sector, everybody wants their content done yesterday, the translation done yesterday. Time is of the essence for any translation project, more so probably for medical translation, where someone’s life could be on the line, or there could be something that’s affecting the community and so forth. How do you ensure your projects meet the deadline?

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes, so for our client, it’s not so much, well, let me go back. It actually depends on different factors. For example, on the client’s priorities. If there is new content that they want to be live immediately, or we work very closely with the editorial boards, all the content is reviewed very carefully by the editorial board. So, if they find something that they feel that it needs to be translated right away, then we need to work on that. For example, the American Society updates to the statistics for cancer type, or new FDA-approved drugs or indications for those drugs. Yes, we need to try to provide those to the user as soon as possible. So, communication and collaboration with all the stakeholders involved in the projects are very important, because we want to ensure that no steps in the process are missed, especially in medical translation, and then monitoring and managing every project carefully, assessing the possible risks that could potentially impact the deadline and have solutions in place.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Let me ask you, Linda, about that kind of liability that is involved in delivering medical translation services? Besides the right domain knowledge, education and experience, what else is needed to safely deliver this type of translated content?

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes, I believe the ISO certifications, such as ISO 17100 and 27001. I mean, there are so many, even the one for human post-edited machine translation, the ISO certification for quality management, the one for medical service devices, and certified translators. In some cases, depending on the LSPs or other organizations, they may ask for translators to have general need liability insurance and professional liability insurance as well, and ensure that the systems and the workflows are built for data security and privacy, and quality control.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Okay. Speaking of data security and information security, privacy and so forth, I know that California has its own regulations and requirements. What do our colleagues in the industry need to know about these things? You know, they are probably still receiving files through email to translate and return. What should they take into consideration as a translator when translating or as an LSP who is sending out these content for translation?

 

Linda Saucedo

Well, I can speak a little bit about organizations like ours, to understand very well the policies of the organization and also the policies around data security and privacy of the clients. In our case, because we work with a government agency, we have to be aware of what those policies are and work together to ensure that we’re following their guidelines and also the organization’s guidelines.

 

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Sultan Ghaznawi

Going back to technology, Linda, how has the emergence of new technologies such as generative AI, like chat GPT, impacted delivery of medical translation services?

 

Linda Saucedo

So as of today, we’re not users of this technology. So I cannot provide much information on how it has impacted the delivery of medical translation services. However, I am still learning about generative AI, understanding the risks, the benefits, looking into data security and privacy and other aspects as well to then determine if it would meet our organization and clients’ needs and requirements, and if it makes sense to our business, before I move into testing and eventually implement it.

 

But I will continue to learn before making these big steps. Our latest addition to our suite of translation tools is machine translation, which, as I mentioned earlier, we have added to our translation workflows. But we understand that we cannot rely on it, for example, for confidential medical documents, because it could have legal and ethical implications.

 

We also know that translation of medical content requires accuracy and precision due to the complexity of the medical terminology and machine translation does not always capture the nuances of these terms. We also understand that the lack of cultural and linguistic understanding may result in errors or misinterpretations that could endanger patient safety, for example. So, we continue to watch the output of the translation memory and make some tweaks to our dictionaries and translation memories.

 

We have proper quality control measures in place and ensure that our team of professionals and experienced medical translators are a vital part of the process because they’re the ones that possess the necessary expertise and knowledge to ensure the accuracy and confidentiality in all medical translation, making them a crucial component of the global healthcare communication.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Let’s look at some of the opportunities in this space, Linda. What can be done better for medical translation and how can it be done? What are your top challenges as a localization manager for medical content today?

 

Linda Saucedo

Yes, I would say that one of our biggest challenges is the diversity of communities. For example, in the US, this Hispanic community is culturally and linguistically diverse. Their vocabulary can be quite different depending on which country a person comes from. There are differences in terminology, such as, for example, how they describe pain. So, there are also differences in grammar.

 

So, we also have been seeing a large population of indigenous groups coming to America. So medical translators must be aware of the linguistic and cultural differences. And the context in order to produce the right translation. Languages evolve and medical terminology is always changing. Another challenge is the new technologies and identifying which one will provide the most benefit and meet the requirements and the needs of the translation teams, and in our case, the client.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

If you had any advice, Linda, for our vendors and provider colleagues like the LSPs, what would that be?

 

Linda Saucedo

Due to the fact that we have an in-house translation localization team, we don’t outsource. However, I would encourage them to continue to stay abreast of the new technologies and learn how to use them and not to be afraid of working with localization teams and different types of software.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Okay, thank you so much, Linda, for that. And in closing, let me ask for your thoughts on the future of medical translation services. How do you see the sector shaping in the next five years?

 

Linda Saucedo

I believe that the need for medical translation services will continue to increase. We continue to see new specializations, advances in medicine, medical communication. We are translating more content that needs our knowledge and expertise. We know that it is vital for everyone providing medical translation services to stay abreast of the industry, the specializations of interest and new technologies. The way we work may change. We should embrace the change and embark with passion and optimism on what could be a new era for this sector. But yet, I believe, immense fulfillment, knowing that we’re making great contributions to the industry and the clients and the audiences we serve, that we continue to grow as LSB and creating value, for us and for our clients, too.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

That was such a great conversation, Linda. You covered a wide array of topics. There’s actually so much to process. I’m sure our colleagues heard, processed, and learned quite a bit today. I really enjoyed speaking with you, and I can’t wait to speak with you again on a topic of interest for you and the industry. And with that, let me thank you for your time and for sharing your wisdom with the industry today.

 

Linda Saucedo

Thank you very much, Sultan, for having me.

 

Sultan Ghaznawi

Okay. So, it’s time for my round-up of the interview and my analysis as to what has been discussed. As you heard, translating medical content is a lot more involved and requires very specific skills to deliver a translated message that would bring timely information to people impacted, whether it is the clinician or the patient.

 

I feel that as our industry is becoming more specialized, the need for medical translation will only grow and we will need more labor and skilled translators in this area. translators in this area. Technology will bring in some degree of relief for the low-priority medical content and I see the future where some of the content will be eliminated by machine learning solutions like auto-triage where a human translator would have been involved in the past.

 

As any industry, the need for highly specialized and condensed medical content will drive the need for professional medical translation. LSPs focusing in this area must also bear in mind that the reliability related to the accuracy of their work may be a lot higher compared to other sectors and as such take great care to use the right resource process and terminology for this type of content and integrate more closely with their clients for contextual understanding.

 

This is a great and noble field and I encourage more of our translator colleagues to think about specializing in this area. That brings us to the end of this episode. I had a great time speaking with Linda Saucedo who is a leader in the medical translation space. I certainly learned a lot and I can’t wait to speak with her again. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Translation Company Talk Podcast on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Audible and other platforms.

 

Also give this episode a 5-star rating for the quality of the content and comment or send us questions.

 

Until next time!

 

Outro

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