Medical translations ? TOP 9 online glossaries

Medical translations, no matter the language pair, require a considerable amount of specialist knowledge. A linguist dealing with medical texts has to both be fluent in the target language and know medical terminology specific to the field. This combination is the only guarantee that the translator will fully understand the source text and render it flawlessly in translation. For your convenience, we have prepared a list of best online sources that may prove useful while performing medical translations.

1. QRD templates, documents with information on a medical product, such as medical product characteristics, patient?s leaflet and packaging content. For these texts, we recommend the European Medicines Agency (EMA) website, which provides QRD templates in all major European languages: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/marketing-authorisation/product-information/product-information-templates It is said that QRD templates are the most important documents with which pharmacology translators should become familiar.
2. Assuming that QRD templates are the no. 1 position in available references for pharmacology translations, the no. 2 is definitely the glossary of terms and symbols used in pharmacology. We strongly recommend this one: http://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm-pm/academics/resources/glossary/
3. Another potentially problematic area for medical translations regards abbreviations and difficulties with their proper interpretation. It is absolutely crucial to understand them well. Our favourite website for decoding medical abbreviations may be found here: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/Glossary It is a rich glossary of alphabetised abbreviations used in medical sciences.
4. Another glossary of medical abbreviations that we can recommend is arranged topic-wide (branches, professions, procedures, medicines, etc.). You can find it here: http://seanmallon.tripod.com/
5. The etymology of most medical terms is closely related to Latin and Greek. It is especially visible in prefixed and suffixes added to medical terminology. We encourage you to read a paper on Latin and Greek elements in medical texts: https://journals.viamedica.pl/medical_research_journal/article/viewFile/36871/26411 This article features both Polish and English examples.
6. The UCL glossary not only explains the meaning of prefixes and suffixes, but also shows how they are used: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lapt/medterms.htm
7. The human body is a highly complex mechanism. Terminology regarding human anatomy is comparably convoluted. We are certain that our favourite glossary of medicine and anatomy will help you shed some light on any vocabulary-based questions you may have: http://medsci.indiana.edu/junqueira/docs/glossary.pdf Moreover, you can find some remarks on the etymology of some terms.
8. Persons particularly interested in anatomy and those willing to expand their corpus of anatomy-related vocabulary should definitely visit specialist websites that focus on this area. One of the websites we visit the most discloses all secrets of the human muscular system: https://www.innerbody.com/image/musfov.html
9. There is one specialist website that drew our attention due to a rich database of ophthalmology terminology. You can find it here: http://www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/glossary/A.html

Medicine is a highly complex area; the same may be said about medical translation. If you have any questions or doubts about the process of completing a medical translation, do not hesitate to contact us.

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