| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | recommended Medical Dictionary -advice needed Thread poster: Luke Mersh
|
|---|
Luke Mersh 
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:58
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER | recommended Medical Dictonary- advice needed | Apr 27, 2015 |
@Jlrsnyder
Thank you very much for that comment.
That was what I was told when studying my DPSI, "we do not need to be doctors to be able to translate medical documents"
I do indeed endeavour to learn as much as possible to become a better translator.
| | | | | A dictionary is not a must | Apr 27, 2015 |
As a practicing physician, and a translator at the same time, I am not quite sure if a dictionary (big expensive book) really solves a problem. Go online, use Search engines to uncover the exact meaning of a word, or a phrase. Use Medscape.com. It has everything concerning medicine, or almost everything.
Or - go get the Taber's Cyclopedic.
| | | | Luke Mersh
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:58
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER | recommended Medical Dictonary- advice needed | Apr 27, 2015 |
@Yurizx
Thank you for your comment.
I do indeed use medscape.com and other medical websites to translate, but sometime not having enough background knowledge in the subject can lead to a misunderstanding and wrong terminology.
| | | | | Background knowledge | Apr 27, 2015 |
Luke Mersh wrote:
I do indeed use medscape.com and other medical websites to translate, but sometime not having enough background knowledge in the subject can lead to a misunderstanding and wrong terminology.
A dictionary is not going to help you if you don't understand the subject matter. If you don't understand something, you need to gain the background knowledge to help you do so. I'm not saying don't become a medical translator - you don't need to be a physician to translate medical texts. What you DO need is a broad knowledge base, something that can come from self-study, courses, extensive reading, whatever.
A dictionary is an invaluable reference aid. But I'm not sure it entirely meets the need you hope it will.
| | |
|
|
|
Luke Mersh
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:58
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER | recommended Medical Dictonary- advice needed | Apr 27, 2015 |
Fiona Peterson wrote: Luke Mersh wrote:
I do indeed use medscape.com and other medical websites to translate, but sometime not having enough background knowledge in the subject can lead to a misunderstanding and wrong terminology. A dictionary is not going to help you if you don't understand the subject matter. If you don't understand something, you need to gain the background knowledge to help you do so. I'm not saying don't become a medical translator - you don't need to be a physician to translate medical texts. What you DO need is a broad knowledge base, something that can come from self-study, courses, extensive reading, whatever. A dictionary is an invaluable reference aid. But I'm not sure it entirely meets the need you hope it will.
As I stated earlier I did a years DPSI course in Health Care.
But some of the text are a little more complicated than I have studied.
| | | |
Luke Mersh wrote:
As I stated earlier I did a years DPSI course in Health Care.
But some of the text are a little more complicated than I have studied.
Just to be clear, I am not questioning your competency in any way! All the advice I gave comes from my own direct experience - of course we are all different and each of us is best placed to make decisions regarding what materials to purchase.
I bought the Gould-Chiampo many years ago, eager to get into the medical field. However it took me four years of a nursing degree to understand what the medical field truly involved!
I wish you the very best for your future
| | | | Luke Mersh
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:58
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER | recommended Medical Dictionary -advice needed | Apr 28, 2015 |
@Fiona
yes I appreciate your advice and agree, that actually working in the field is the best practice,
but for people like myself, we have come from the language side.
I have worked in the caring( home and social care) field for a short time and helped people who were suffering with dementia and other related illnesses, so I do have that experience, and I am trying to build up on that.
| | | | Marjolein Snippe
Netherlands
Local time: 07:58
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
| I think that is probably a good choice | Apr 28, 2015 |
Luke Mersh wrote:
I have gone ahead and purchased "Mosby's Diagnostic and Laboratory Test Reference"(english)
I think this is a good starting point.
I agree. I have a biomedical background, but I have not been trained as a cardiologist, gastro-enterologist etc. I often find I can find enough information online to be confident that I understand the meaning of the word in the text, as well as the whole text, but I then do need to double check in monolingual texts (dictionaries, textbooks, journals) to make sure I am using the correct translation.
| | |
|
|
|
Luke Mersh
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:58
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER | recommended Medical Dictonary- advice needed | Apr 28, 2015 |
@Marjolein
I intended to purchase my Spanish medical monolingual dictionaries soon.
| | | | Luke Mersh
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:58
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER | recommended Medical Dictonary- advice needed | Apr 29, 2015 |
Just purchased as well the BMA illustrated medical dictionary.
Just got to find where I can purchase at a reasonable price my Spanish monolingual medical dictionary.
| | | |
Hi Luke,
Many of the posters here have recommended that you perhaps strenghen your medical background, which I agree would probably be more helpful than a dictionary. I know it's difficult to afford fees for courses, etc., but have you had a look at www.coursera.org? I don't know if you're familiar with it, but it offers free online courses from some of the world's top universities. Right now for ex... See more Hi Luke,
Many of the posters here have recommended that you perhaps strenghen your medical background, which I agree would probably be more helpful than a dictionary. I know it's difficult to afford fees for courses, etc., but have you had a look at www.coursera.org? I don't know if you're familiar with it, but it offers free online courses from some of the world's top universities. Right now for example, you could sign up to "Introduction to human physiology", which would be an excellent starting point. There's another course starting shortly on "Bacteria and chronic infections" (introductory level). Medical translation is really interesting (for some of us at least!), but can be extremely complex and difficult, so a strong background is essential, in my opinion. Have a look at the Mediterranean Editors and Translators (MET) website (www.metmeetings.org),as well. Their annual conference could be very useful for you.
Best of luck and study hard!! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Luke Mersh
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:58
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER | recommended Medical Dictonary- advice needed | Apr 30, 2015 |
@Biomed Sci
Thank you very much for that advice.
I will definitely look into those.
| | |
|
|
|
| try Intuitive Interpreting | Aug 6, 2015 |
It seems to me that it fits what you are looking for, and is not a big investment
| | | | LTtrans
United Kingdom
French to English
+ ...
| Thank you so much! | Apr 23, 2016 |
Biomed Sci wrote: Hi Luke, Many of the posters here have recommended that you perhaps strenghen your medical background, which I agree would probably be more helpful than a dictionary. I know it's difficult to afford fees for courses, etc., but have you had a look at www.coursera.org? I don't know if you're familiar with it, but it offers free online courses from some of the world's top universities. Right now for example, you could sign up to "Introduction to human physiology", which would be an excellent starting point. There's another course starting shortly on "Bacteria and chronic infections" (introductory level). Medical translation is really interesting (for some of us at least!), but can be extremely complex and difficult, so a strong background is essential, in my opinion. Have a look at the Mediterranean Editors and Translators (MET) website ( www.metmeetings.org),as well. Their annual conference could be very useful for you. Best of luck and study hard!!
Bit late to this discussion but I just wanted to offer my heartfelt thanks to Biomed Sci for posting this reference to www.coursera.org. Coming from a linguistic background rather than a technical one and looking to move into medical translation (eventually), I've been desperate to track down an affordable and manageable course through which to expand my general knowledge of physiology and perhaps, with the fullness of time, cardiac physiology (I work in cardio-related admin at a hospital, hence the interest). The Introductory Human Physiology course available via Coursera is absolutely perfect for this and much more affordable than the vast majority of institution-based options, for me at any rate.
Thank you to everyone else who posted very helpful references to books and other resources too.
Let the hard study begin!
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » recommended Medical Dictionary -advice needed | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | TM-Town | Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business
Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
