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18 - Translating Medical Texts

from Part IV - Translation in Practice: Factual Genres

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2022

By
Karen Korning Zethsen  and
Vicent Montalt
Edited by
Kirsten Malmkjær
Kirsten Malmkjær
Affiliation:
University of Leicester
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Summary

Chapter 18 charts the history of medical translation and developments in the field. It introduces the main genres and target groups and discusses important challenges that medical translators face. The shift from the biomedical paradigm to patient-centredness and patient empowerment means that people want to understand information involving their own health, so that intralingual translation is often required for expert–lay medical translation. The chapter discusses the challenges that such intralingual translation presents, especially when coupled with interlingual translation. The importance of medical ethics in medical translation is also highlighted.

Keywords

Genresusersbiomedical paradigmpatient empowermentexpert–layintralingual translationethics
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Translation , pp. 363 - 378
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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