The global dissemination of SNOMED CT® increases the need to provide the terminology in many different languages. SNOMED CT® has a built-in framework to manage different languages and dialects. Currently, entire or partial translations of SNOMED CT® are available in US English, UK English, Spanish, Danish, Swedish and Canadian French, Translations in other IHTSDO Member countries and elsewhere are also in progress.
In addition, the IHTSDO has created a starter set of SNOMED CT concepts. This starter set is available in Chinese, Japanese, French and German.
Principles
- It is crucial that those involved in the translation, verification, validation, and approval processes are familiar with the terminological principles on which SNOMED CT® is based. It is equally important that they comply with IHTSDO Style Guides and that they are conscious of issues such as the choice of lexical variant, term requirements, translation techniques, and the importance of ensuring linguistic consistency.
Translation Project Owners (TPOs) should strive to ensure that translations comply with the principles on which SNOMED CT® was originally based (comprehensibility, reproducibility, usefulness) and that the information contained in the translated concepts is semantically equivalent to that contained in the core source terminology (international release).
The basic objective of any SNOMED CT® translation is to provide accurate and unambiguous descriptions of SNOMED CT® concepts in the target language. Therefore, a principle of concept-based translation must be used. Defining a set of national linguistic guidelines, including syntactical, morphological, and orthographic rules, to support that approach, is also crucial.
General linguistic principles
- The overall principle should be that since the target group of the national edition of SNOMED CT® are professionals, a high level of quality LSP (Language for Specific Purpose) terms should prevail. It is recommended that some preliminary, general principles regarding the choice of lexical variant are established before the translation work commences.
Recommendations or policies established by a national language council, authority or board should, in general, be followed
Planning a translation
Resource requirements
What not to do . . .
Translation methods
- An Analysis of Google Translate Accuracy by Milam Aiken and Shilpa Balan, Translation Journal, Volume 16, No. 2 April 2011
"Although Google Translate provides translations among a large number of languages, the accuracies vary greatly. This study gives for the first time an estimate of how good a potential translation might be using the software. Our analysis shows that translations between European languages are usually good, while those involving Asian languages are often relatively poor. Further, the vast majority of language combinations probably provide sufficient accuracy for reading comprehension in college".
To access document click <HERE>
- Use of Google Translate in medical communication: evaluation of accuracy by Sumant Patil (senior clinical fellow) and Patrick Davies (consultant), BMJ, 2014; 349
"Google Translate has only 57.7% accuracy when used for medical phrase translations and should not be trusted for important medical communications. However, it still remains the most easily available and free initial mode of communication between a doctor and patient when language is a barrier. Although caution is needed when life saving or legal communications are necessary, it can be a useful adjunct to human translation services when these are not available."
To access document click <HERE>
- The funny side of Google Translate in medical communication, BMJ, 2014
Article is a small sample study, but gives examples of unwanted translations, such as the following:
| Phrase | Translation |
| Your wife is stable | Your wife cannot fall over |
| Your husband had a cardiac arrest | Your husband’s heart was imprisoned |
| Your husband had a heart attack | Your husband’s heart was attacked |
| Your wife needs to be ventilated | Your wife needs to be aired |
| Your child’s condition is life threatening | Your child’s state is not life stopping |
| Your child has been fitting | Your child has been constructing |
| Your child will be born premature | Your child is sleeping early |
| Your husband has the opportunity to donate his organs | Your husband is now ready to donate |
| We will need your consent for operation | We need your consent for operating (such as machinery) |
| Did he have high fever at home? | Your home temperature was high |
To access document click <HERE>
- Semi-automated approach
"A Finite-State Approach to Translate SNOMED CT Terms into Basque Using Medical Prefixes and Suffixes"
To access document click <HERE>
(incomplete - work in progress)