• Pan-European packaging and product instructions
• Validator is a Nobel Peace Prize judge & practicing ophthalmic surgeon
• Legal importance of 100% accuracy in medical translations
3rd December 2003, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom – The recent launch of Austrian –based Chroma-Pharma’s eye ointment to a European market involved validating (double-checking) translations from an original text in German into Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. To indicate the level at which K-International recruits its specialist validators, a practising ophthalmic surgeon who also happens to be a Nobel Peace Prize judge, was enlisted to double-check the Swedish text!
The new ‘Rayflo’ product is used in ophthalmic surgery so accurate translation of the instructions for use was critical, both from the point of view of the patient’s quality of life and the legal implications if the instructions were misunderstood. Chroma-Pharma supplied the translations and bought K-International’s ‘translation validation’ service.
Rosalba Venturi, Chief Executive of K International explains ‘The legal implications of innacurate translations could be financially catastrophic in the pharmaceutical industry. Our validation service is designed to put our clients’ minds at rest. We track down high calibre people to double-check the translations for us and validators provide their CV’s as proof of competence. This way the client knows they are the best in their field’.
Highly-qualified ophthalmic surgeons were sourced from each country to read and verify the translations against the source text. Changes were made according to the practice and terminology used in each country.
Professor Tengroth is Emeritus Professor in Opthalmology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and former head of the St Erik eye hospital in Stockholm. He is still a practising ophthalmic surgeon and Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmic surgeons in London. He is a former member of the Nobel Prize committé for the prize in physiology and medicine, and of the International Council in opthalmology. Currently, he is a member of the International Academy of ophthalmology and various International Academies.
Professor Tengroth said ‘The eye is a very complex and sensitive organ and must be treated with great care. I was very happy to work with K International because I wholeheartedly support their desire to be absolutely accurate in medical terms. 80% of the nerve endings feeding into the brain come from the eye so it is an important organ. In fact the eyes are a part of the brain – a brain lobe. Eyes are the number one organ for orientation and when people’s quality of life depends on your work, you want it to be absolutely 100% correct.’
He pointed out that the translation he was asked to validate was already of a very high standard. Apparently there were very few changes - just one or two words.
ENDS - Word count 481
Weblinks
http://www.viscoelastics.com/eyes/index.asp
http://www.k-international.com
Notes for Editors: K International is based in Milton Keynes, and specialises in the provision of foreign language services to the commercial and government sectors. It has twenty-one staff, of whom fourteen are at least bilingual if not trilingual foreign nationals. Founded 16 years ago, it is now one of the UK’s leading multilingual service providers, with a database of over 2,800 translators as a virtual workforce spread around the globe.
Working in more than 150 languages, they translate over 20 million words per year. K International has a turnover of £1.7m and its clients include organisations in all of the world’s major markets. For example; ten departments of the UK government, EasyJet, AMEX Europe, Proctor & Gamble USA, Vodafone, Reuters, Barclays, JP Morgan, Arthur Andersen, Tesco, Argos, Dixons, Nissan, Aston Martin, F1 Data Services and Fujitsu to name a few. The internationally accredited quality service includes translation, validation, localisation, design and typesetting, interpreting and telephone interpreting.
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