High Standards Remain Necessary in Language Translation

There is a lot to be said about technology and language. For example, the Chinese language is quickly gaining speed by the number of users in the world (second most spoken language in the world next to English as first and Spanish as third). Technology has come a long way and one can now look up words online in just about any language and you can even communicate albeit in a loose way. You can get the gist of the topic at hand, but not implicit information that makes a difference in one’s life. However, there is one exception in digital communication when it comes to technology translation. Health care communication needs to be precise. It is this accuracy that makes it valuable. It is just too important to have personal information be translated by technology in a verbatim way.

First, technology translation about health is private, individual and unique to the patient. It could be a difference of life vs. death, healthy living vs. poor habits or knowledge vs. ignorance. No one can negate the intimacy of communication between a health care provider and a patient where health care is concerned. Technology translation cannot possibly fulfill patient needs in a personalized way. Preciseness is necessary in this case.

There is no question that technology translation has much to offer all industries around the world. We are not quite there for communication about health care matters. Computers may be experts in word translation, but not effective human communication. It is projected that technology translation will not be perfect, merely adequate. Now these applications are often considered “passable”. This is fine for general information or basic business, but not delicate matters with the potential to impact health. Therefore, we still need to rely on medical translation firms who specialize in high quality language standards. Just ask yourself. If you were in China, would you trust your personal health needs to a technology translation application? How about if the words were passable?

(MUR)