“Don’t fix bad translations”: A netnographic study of translators’ understandings of back translation in the medical domain

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Published: Dec 20, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6035/MonTI.2018.10.8
Keywords:
back translation, medical translation, netnography, translation strategy

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Kristine Bundgaard
Aalborg University
Matilde Nisbeth Brøgger
Aarhus University

Abstract

Back translation (BT) means taking a translation and translating it back into the original language to check the accuracy of the translation. In the Health Sciences, BT is widely used and considered the gold standard for quality assurance. However, BT has received very limited attention within Translation Studies, and at the same time, there seems to be a lack of consensus in guidelines on BT within the medical field on the appropriate approach to BT. This begs the question of whether translators know what BT is and how they understand and approach BT. Using a netnographic approach, we explored translators’ utterances related to BT in two online translator forums. The analysis showed some confusion as to the appropriate approach to BT which underlines the importance of providing translators with a brief. This, however, requires that clients are aware of the purpose and limitations of BT.

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How to Cite
Bundgaard, K., & Brøgger, M. N. (2018). “Don’t fix bad translations”: A netnographic study of translators’ understandings of back translation in the medical domain. MonTI. Monographs in Translation and Interpreting, (10), 205–224. https://doi.org/10.6035/MonTI.2018.10.8
Issue
No. 10 (2018): Current challenges and emerging trends in medical translation
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Articles

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Author Biographies

Kristine Bundgaard, Aalborg University

Kristine Bundgaard, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Department of Culture and Global Studies at Aalborg University, Denmark, where she is a member of the research groups Language and Linguistics and Communication and Culture in Professional Contexts. She teaches translation and text production, and her primary research interests include translation technology, translation processes and business communication.

Matilde Nisbeth Brøgger, Aarhus University

Matilde Nisbeth Brøgger, PhD, is Associate Professor at the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University, Denmark, where she is a member of the Research Group for Translation and Interpreting and the Health Communication Project Group. Her primary research interests include medical translation, health communication, expert-lay communication and computer-mediated communication. She is the book review editor of JoSTrans – the Journal of Specialised Translation, and co-editor of the European Society for Translation Studies’ newsletter.

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