Medical translation refers to the translation of technical, regulatory, clinical or marketing documentation, software or training curriculum for the pharmaceutical, medical device or healthcare fields in order to ensure that common people identify with the technical terms used in medicine. Medical translators are specialized writers who possess linguistic skills as well as medical proficiency, so as to make medical language comprehensible and clear for common people. To be professionally qualified medical translators, it is inadequate for an aspiring individual to only be versatile in two languages; qualifications in translation as well as medical science are required. Most medical translators are nurse assistants, nurses, doctor’s assistants, and even doctors.
It is important to be aware that asking doctors to perform a translation may incur the doctor’s hourly fee which often amounts to a couple of hundred dollars. Medical translators are chosen very strictly on the basis of a number of factors. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a medical translator needs to have at the very least a bachelor’s degree. Although several non-government organizations offer official certificates for limited pairs of language, no government institution standardizes any course for medical translators nor do they issue any certifications for any type of translations. Consequently, medical translation is restricted to private institutions only.