The life sciences are involved in saving lives and improving patient outcomes. These contributions to society are among the most critical of any industry.
Clear communication across language barriers is crucial. That’s why you should never trust your life science translation to anyone but a subject matter expert.
A professional translation partner should employ not only native-speaking linguists, but these translators should also possess expert-level education and experience in translating in the life sciences field.
Only then can you be sure that your life science translation project will be handled accurately. After all, if you don’t understand it, you cannot translate it accurately.
The Complexity Involved in Life Science Translation
Any time you’re translating complicated life science documentation, it’s important that the person doing the translating has a keen understanding of the subject matter at hand. That’s where industry expertise comes into play. The nature of life science-related material is highly scientific and complex.
Scientific translation requires the ability to paraphrase, transliterate complicated terms, and choose the proper linguistic nuances of the target market, as well as take other localization factors into account. Only a native-speaking linguist will possess intimate knowledge of the language, including local variations.
And only a subject matter expert in the life sciences will have an expansive knowledge of industry terminology that allows him or her to choose the correct wording to convey your meaning in the target language. This knowledge is vital for translating material that may have life-and-death implications for practitioners and/or their patients.
The Complicated Documents of Life Science Translation
The complete range of documents potentially involved in the life sciences is too numerous to mention here, but below is a sampling of the different material commonly encountered in a life science translation project. These give an idea of the complex material that demands a subject matter expert for accurate and reliable scientific translation.
- Adverse Event Report Forms
- Adverse Event Reports (SAEs)
- Batch Records and MBRs
- Case Report Forms (CRFs)
- Clinical Research
- Clinical Trial Agreements (CTAs)
- CMC Documentation
- Data Sheets
- Declaration Of Conformity
- GMP Documentation
- IND and NDA Documentation for EMEA
- Instructions For Use (IFUs)
- IRB/Ethics Committee Submissions
- Lab Reports
- Labels and Package Inserts
- Patient Diaries
- Patient Education (CMI and PHI)
- Patents
- Patient Questionnaires
- Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs)
- Pharmacovigilance and Postmarketing Surveillance
- QMS Audit Documentation
- Registration Dossiers
- Regulatory Affairs
- Research & Development
- Scientific Articles
- Software and Hardware
- Study Protocols
- Validation Reports
Regulatory Compliance & Life Science Translation
Life science translation requires up-to-date scientific and technical knowledge from your translators and editors. It also demands a comprehensive understanding of strict medical and scientific regulatory laws in the target countries and regions, making it highly advisable to consult regulatory experts as well. These directives will contain their own unique terminology that must also be understood.
Life science-related documentation must meet a variety of regulatory and quality control criteria. Regardless of whether you are translating lab reports for submission to the FDA or IFUs for a new medical device to comply with the IVD directive from the European Union, your language, industry knowledge, and healthcare regulation expertise must not fail to meet the test.
ILS—Your Expert Partner for Life Science Translation
International Language Services has been providing companies and organizations just like yours top-quality, reliable scientific translations for over 35 years. All our quality translators are native-language linguists and subject matter experts in their assigned fields, including the life sciences. Your life science translation project is handled by educated and experienced translation professionals who are well-versed in the life sciences industry.
Our specialists not only provide native scientific translation expertise in over 180 languages worldwide, but they’re also subject matter experts who combine industry expertise with a keen understanding of local markets and localization factors that contribute to more accurate and reliable translations.
Our ISO 9001:2015 certification ensures thorough, efficient, well-documented project management from start to finish. The ILS three-step quality control process includes editing by a second qualified translator in addition to our final in-house quality review to ensure that your delivered project is error-free and meets the highest standards.
We are so confident of the expertise of our translators and the quality of our finished products that we carry Errors & Omissions insurance with Lloyd’s of London. You can be sure that your life science translation project will be on-time and accurate, the first time and every time.
