One service that Meaningful Exchange is able to provide for clients is back-translation, a process that can be of benefit in highly technical or highly sensitive translations.
For most significant translations, Meaningful Exchange would recommend a process of checking, where a translation is checked independently by another translator with equivalent qualifications to the original translator. This process has been important in enabling us to present high quality finished translations; just as the original (usually English) text has been pored over often by several authors, so having two translators translate and check a text ensures quality.
Back-translation takes this process one step further – it gives the client a greater degree of control over and involvement in the translation process. A back-translation gives a sense of whether the meaning of a passage has been adequately translated; in many cases a client may be concerned that a particular phrase, term or concept has been conveyed in the translation; a back-translation process gives this additional confidence to the client that the translation is adequate.
An example of back-translations being used to check on very precise concepts was a translation undertaken by Meaningful Exchange for the Arthritis Foundation of Victoria Centre for Rheumatic Diseases, the Department of Medicine at Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the University of Melbourne. This was a translation of a sensitive diagnostic tool, the Multi-attribute Arthritis Prioritisation Tool [MAPT]; a questionnaire whose results would be used to prioritise patients for hip and knee replacements. Research had shown that the answers to this questionnaire correlated very highly with clinical observations and tests, giving confidence to promote the questionnaire as an accurate diagnostic tool. The authors of the questionnaire were very concerned that the precise degrees of pain and reports of other symptoms referred to in the questionnaire were conveyed accurately in the 12 languages being translated. The clients used the back-translations to clarify how these precise items had been conveyed in the other languages through email exchanges and finally a teleconference with each translator. Further information on these translations is available at www.crd.unimelb.edu.au/academic/projects/oahipknee.html/
Some warnings are in order if using back-translations as a guide to precision. First, as all translators know, but many clients may not immediately recognise, terms and concept in any one language do not match one-for one in another language. Back-translations will often give a variation of what was in the original. It takes some understanding of language to appreciate when the original concept has been translated adequately, even if the same term does not come back in back-translation. Back-translations may also be useful for picking up any inadvertent omissions in translation.
Meaningful Exchange provides project management expertise by briefing all parties on the process, explaining the limits of back-translation and finally sitting in on conversations between clients and translators to give guidance on what may be genuine differences in meaning and what may be differences in expression that still convey the same meaning.
For further information about back translations for your business:

Contact: Uyen Nguyen,  Manager, Translations
Phone: 1300 854 799
International Phone:+61 (3) 9605 3099
Email: uyen.nguyen@meaningfulexchange.com.au
 

Radiography professional development workshop

12 March 2008

To close the presentation, the team at NWBS were asked to provide the one key point they would share with a colleague who was new to working with interpreters,

“Talk directly to client with the interpreter in the background” and “[don’t forget to] allow time for possible translations”

For further information about Professional Development Workshops for your business :Contact: Ismail Akinci, CEO
Phone:1300 854 799
International Phone:+61 (3) 9605 3099
Email: Stephanie Mayne, Executive Assistant to Ismail Akinci: stephanie.mayne@allgraduates.com.au

A classic technical translation exercise.

Client: Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited

Background

Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited sought our services for an extended series of translation surrounding clinical trial documentation and representation to several countries. An innovative Australian pharmaceutical company, Clinuvel manufactures a product that combats various pathologies in human beings that arise from over-exposure to sunlight. This includes various cancers and carcinomas as well as dermatological effects. As an Australian invention, the product needs to be registered by a number of national drug administrations in order to be sold in those countries. Registration for several European and Asian countries has been sought, and central to this is presenting results from Clinuvel clinical trails and the extensive documentation this involves.

Tasks and challenges

Submissions made to national drug administrations must be made in that respective language, necessitating translations for each national instance. Moreover, different demands are encountered from various national drug administrations, or from the same administration over time, so documentation needs to be constantly changed and monitored, and record keeping extending over several thousands of pages of documentation must be precise, both for authors and for translators, demanding attentive project management.

The voluminous correspondence back from the national drug administrations comes also in the language of that country, requiring translations again to convey approvals, detailed objections, scientific queries and general correspondence, which are then replied to again in similar detail in translated documentation. Developers at Clinuvel are thus dependent upon translations of equal fidelity in both directions with each drug’s administration.

For translators specifically, particular attention must be paid to the language of clinical trials: it is highly cryptic, uses a mixture of natural language and technical field-specific jargon, freely uses discipline-specific acronyms, and mixes pharmacological, procedural and legalistic language:

• ‘For the non-clinical evaluation of the potential for delayed ventricular repolarization (QT internal prolongation) by human pharmaceuticals, tests are to be carried out in in vitro and in vivo_ ‘
• ‘Providing AUC and t1/2 values as well as release rates in addition to Cmax _’
• ‘According to section 9, paragraph 2, sentence 2 of the GCP_V, the sponsor may change his/her application a single time within a maximum period of 90 days after receipt of this notification’.

Our methodology in handling this material was to use a translator-checker team for each translation, with team members drawn from professionally accredited translators with previous translation expertise in pharmacology or professional involvement in the pharmacology industry.

Achievement

For over 40 substantial translations extending over two years, there were no instances of feedback of complaint on quality of translation, or difficulties in relation to any linguistic aspect. Clinuvel has been successful in obtaining registration with several national drug administrations to date, with more pending.

We see such technical translations as having far wider ramifications than simply having one satisfied client. They show also to what extent Australian exporting companies are becoming increasingly reliant upon translation to get their products into world markets. Compared to the huge developmental costs of putting new drugs on the market, translation may be only a very small fraction of expenditure, However, without that translation then in this pharmacological instance a company will not be able to market its product at all in non-English speaking countries. The same would hold true for companies anywhere in the world wishing to enter markets with regulatory or procedural systems conducted in other languages, for which we can equally cater.

Translations were produced in the following combinations: English into Finnish, English into German, English into French, English into Dutch, and English into Italian.

Meaningful Exchange Translator qualifications

All translators of each language team have a minimum 5 years experience as a professional translator and have NAATI professional accreditation.

Australia has a system of national accreditation for Translators and Interpreters administered by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters [NAATI].

For further information about this project:

Contact: Ismail Akinci, CEO
Phone:1300 854 799
International Phone:+61 (3) 9605 3033
Email: Ismail.akinci@meaningfulexchange.com.au

Translating a sensitive orthopaedic diagnostic questionnaire and a health education questionnaire.

Client: The University of Melbourne, Centre for Rheumatic Diseases.

Background

An example of high quality translations is a series of questionnaires from a leading University of Melbourne medical team, developing critical diagnostic and evaluation tools. The University’s Centre for Rheumatic Disease had authored the Multi-attribute Arthritis Prioritisation Tool [MAPT], a psychometrically nuanced questionnaire on degrees and consequences of hip and knee pain that allowed accurate prioritisation of patients for hip and knee replacement operations. The interest in this questionnaire has been international - it will be trialled in Japan and France - as well as being used locally, helping to reduce Victoria’s Orthopaedic Waiting List. In the case of the French version, this was being undertaken by us when the University of Melbourne team also received a translation from their colleagues in France itself, adding a further loop in the methodology described below. For local consumption and potentially international use the Tool was translated from English into Arabic, English into Chinese, English into Croatian, English into Greek, English into Italian, English into Macedonian, English into Maltese, English into Polish, English into Russian, English into Spanish, English into Turkish and English into Vietnamese. These latter translations can be seen at www.oaservice.org.au

Tasks and challenges

The challenge of this translation was to juggle very precise medical diagnostic categories with a natural language questionnaire that could be understood by averagely educated patients in their language. The methodology included:

• Commenting on the original text by language consultants to identify translation issues
• Briefing of forward translators and checkers
• Forward translation and checking by professionally accredited translators
• Back translation by professionally accredited translators
• Comments by the University of Melbourne team on the back-translation
• Comments in turn by the forward and back translators on the University’s comments
• A teleconference to reconcile differences and approve a final version.

Achievement

The successful conclusion of the MAPT translations led to on an even more complex translation, the Health Education Impact Questionnaire [heiQ], which was designed for the evaluation of health education and self-management programs for people with chronic illnesses, providing a standard means of evaluating such program. The domains the questionnaire covers are quite diverse and include general demographic information about the subject, motivation to change risk factors, compliance with medical regimens, coping, general ‘empowerment’ and techniques for self-management. Affect questions intermingle with behavioural and attitudinal items, questions on positive and negative reactions to subject’s health status come along with questions about the worth of the program they have undertaken. These translations were completed with the identical methodology to that outlined above for MAPT.

We have described some translations that are among the most challenging that translators can face. There is sometimes of a misconception that the most difficult translations must be those with the most complicated scientific and technical terminology. In fact, this is not always the case: highly specialised terminology - say, chemical formulae, machinery details or electrical schemas - will often have relatively straightforward equivalences in other languages and often have simple or minimal grammatical complexity; indeed, machine translation is sometimes used for such texts. By contrast, texts that contain psychological, personal or behavioural items need very careful and sympathetic translation; they cannot be done by machine translation, as even such basic issues as pain or mood or self-perceptions can vary widely among or within cultures. This is our specialty.

Meaningful Exchange Translator qualifications

All translators of each language team have a minimum 5 years experience as a professional translator and have NAATI professional accreditation.

Australia has a system of national accreditation for Translators and Interpreters administered by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters [NAATI].

For further information about this project:

Contact: Ismail Akinci, CEO
Phone:1300 854 799
International Phone:+61 (3) 9605 3033
Email: Ismail.akinci@meaningfulexchange.com.au

Multilingual brochures for NAATI - a combination of consultancy on language need and translation for a government accrediting body

Client: The National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters [NAATI]

Background

The National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters [NAATI] is the body that has set basic standards in the Translation & Interpreting field in Australia since 1977. It is owned by the State, Territory and Federal governments, and through a combination of setting tests, approving courses and assessing overseas qualifications it accredits practitioners at various levels according to Translation and Interpreting ability. The largest area of work for translators and interpreters in Australia is enabling various Australian institutions to communicate effectively with the sizeable immigrant population speaking languages other than English.

Although NAATI had done much to publicise the importance of using accredited translators and interpreters to Australian institutions (health, administration, legal areas, etc) it had done relatively little to communicate this message to the respective ethnic communities. Prompted by its Regional Advisory Committee in Victoria, NAATI decided to remedy this situation and produce material which could be used by ethnic media and distributed through the larger non-English speaking communities.

Tasks and challenges

While what eventuated was not a long or necessarily complex translation, two processes made this project more unpredictable.

First, the original text was pored over and changed by a series of committees, with input coming repeatedly when all had apparently been decided upon, as each arm of this very federal institution was moved to comment. This gave some false starts to our patient translators.

Second, the range of languages that should be covered was also discussed by committees. Given finite resources, it was decided originally to produce the brochures in the top 8 languages of need: while some languages can be readily identified as such (Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese) there can be much discussion over other candidate languages. We tried to contribute to these discussions by reference to language statistics (there are good census statistics on language in Australia, as well as other useful surveys) and also raised a number of other considerations, for example:

• It is not possible to determine need simply by counting numbers of speakers of a language. There are more German speakers in Australia than speakers of Indonesian, and more Dutch speakers than Somali speakers, but the Dutch and Germans are overwhelmingly bilingual in English, other groups not so. Language spoken always needs to be calibrated against level of English ability.
• Different domains will have different translation needs - for example, languages requested for interpreting in aged care are often different to those required to interpret in education. Recency of arrival and age are crucial factors.
• Was there a need to target older, larger immigrant communities, many of whom had had long experience of working with interpreters, even if their level of English was low (Italian, Greek, Turkish), or was there more urgency to target newer groups who may be less familiar with the availability of language services?
• At the same time, a number of suggestions to translate into some of the newest arrival languages (eg Dinka and Nuer, languages of the Sudan) could not be proceeded with because of the uncertainly over numbers of readers, linked to concerns about the literacy levels of people in these languages which were largely oral languages and had only recently begun to evolve writing systems and be standardised. Many speakers of these languages were in fact literate in other languages such as Arabic.
• And finally, as this was to be a national brochure, the languages had to reflect Australia-wide needs, not those of the initiating Victorian committee alone.

Achievement

Through the processes of consultations and discussions, the number of languages for translation increased, and finally the list of 11 languages included a number of languages of more recent arrivals, as well as some of the largest languages of non-English speakers.

Translations were produced in the following combinations: English into Amharic (a language of Ethiopia), English into Arabic, English into Chinese, English into Dari (a language of Afghanistan), English into Indonesian, English into Khmer (Cambodian), English into Persian (or Farsi, the language of Iran), English into Russian, English into Somali, English into Spanish and English into Vietnamese.

Translations were also produced for covering letters to media and ethnic organisations, and began to be distributed, Meaningful Exchange also advising on the targeting of this material. Here, it was crucial that our agency has been represented on the NAATI Regional Advisory Committees and other advisory bodies, as we see the input that we can make to such bodies in terms of time and expertise will benefit not only ourselves as an agency but the broader field of Translating & Interpreting.

Meaningful Exchange Translator qualifications

All translators of each language team have a minimum 5 years experience as a professional translator and have NAATI professional accreditation.

Australia has a system of national accreditation for Translators and Interpreters administered by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters [NAATI].

For further information about this project:

Contact: Ismail Akinci, CEO
Phone:1300 854 799
International Phone:+61 (3) 9605 3033
Email: Ismail.akinci@meaningfulexchange.com.au

First Language Assessment tasks - consulting, writing and translation.

Client: The Department of Education and Training - Victoria

Background

This education translation project came to Meaningful Exchange from the Victorian Department of Education & Training [DE&T]. Some years previously, the Department had created an instrument, the First Language Assessment Task, for assessing the literacy level in the first language of school-age pupils who had recently arrived in Australia. Assessment consisted of a number of graded writing and reading tasks, from reading simple words to reading longer typical school texts; in writing again from copying simple words to writing longer narratives and answering precise questions on texts. Newly-arrived pupils complete these tasks with the aid of an interpreter, giving the school a measure of their level of prior literacy.

The Tasks had been produced for 4 languages: Arabic, Khmer (Cambodian), Somali and Vietnamese. Interestingly, there was no one standard English text from which the texts in the other languages had been created. Tasks were common (eg linking a word to a picture, repeating from memory a read story) but each language chose its own lexical stock, and its own longer texts and narratives appropriate to the background of the pupil.

DE&T commissioned Meaningful Exchange to add two languages, Chinese and Turkish, to the four earlier ones.

Tasks and challenges

The task was thus to produce not exactly translations, but rather a series of tasks in Chinese and Turkish that matched the other languages in style and level of difficulty. This was an unusual challenge, requiring educational research and writing skills as well as translation skills.

The processes that ensued included:

• Consulting with DE&T and their multicultural school advisors on style of texts to be chosen, and using resources supplied by DE&T to do this
• Selecting two of our contract translators who had a background in education and were confident in handling the tasks
• Making appropriate linguistic changes in respective languages to the tasks: in particular, some of the lower level tasks were alphabet-based (replacing missing letters in words, alphabet sequences) that needed to be adjusted for the Chinese ideographic writing systems.
• Selecting appropriate graphics - a number of graphics had been drawn for the original languages, but they had to be mixed and matched at appropriate places. In both Turkish and Chinese one original graphic was needed in each case to match a longer narrative. This was sourced from an educational publication in the case of Turkish, but a new graphic was commissioned for Chinese.
• Part of each language kit was an introduction to salient features of the respective language, and the schooling system the pupils would have come from. These were written by the respective translators and checked by DE&T advisors.
• Acknowledgements, logos, Departmental information and other incidental material were suitably updated.

Achievement

During the course of the project, DE&T also consulted Meaningful Exchange about formatting and in the end decided not to continue with a printed version with the new languages inserted, but to produce a CD with print-on-demand functions that would replace the print version. This also consolidated the material from the previous languages into one complete electronic version (there was no complete electronic version of the original Tasks). Thus a complete new second edition was produced, now more portable and more easily available to schools.

Material on the First Language Assessment Tasks can be found at www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/lem/esl/ecurri.htm

Translations were produced in the following combinations: English into Arabic, English into Chinese, English into Khmer (Cambodian), English into Somali, English into Turkish and English into Vietnamese.

The project thus combined a number of demands besides translation - consulting, adapting text linguistically and culturally, researching and writing, advising on formatting and style. This is the range of services Meaningful Exchange can provide to our clients.

Meaningful Exchange Translator qualifications

All translators of each language team have a minimum 5 years experience as a professional translator and have NAATI professional accreditation.

Australia has a system of national accreditation for Translators and Interpreters administered by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters [NAATI].

For further information about this project:

Contact: Ismail Akinci, CEO
Phone:1300 854 799
International Phone:+61 (3) 9605 3033
Email: Ismail.akinci@meaningfulexchange.com.au