Translating Pharmaceutical Texts for Non - Specialist Readers

• Author: Ana Maria Mangher Chitac
• Position: PhD in progress, Doctoral School of Philological Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania
• Pages: 382-389

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2019

382

Translating Pharmaceutical Texts

for Non - Specialist Readers

Ana-Maria Mangher (Chitac)1

Abstract: The present paper intends to approach the pharmaceutical text as a genre of medical discourse,

focusing especially on the translation of Patient Information Leaflets (PILs).The aim of this paper is to

investigate the translation issues raised by these texts and to offer some translation strategies i n order to

facilitate their understanding by the non – specialist readers. One of the novelty elements of this article consists

in an interdisciplinary approach of the pharmaceutical texts and their analysis from different perspectives: of

translation studies, of linguistics, of pragmatics and of cultural studies. The translation of pharmaceutical texts

represents a difficult process, due to the complexity of the language that encloses terms from all the medicine

fields, as well as the necessity to respect the specific terminology and to integrate the translation in a certain

text typology. The attempt of finding the optimum translation strategies in order to facilitate the understanding

of these texts by the lay - receiver represents another new element of this approach, given that, there are not

many studies in the field literature that focus on this topic.

Keywords: Patient Information Leaflets; medical translation; translation problems; genre analysis; text

typology

1. Introduction

Medical texts to which we consider that pharmaceutical texts are affiliated, have a specific structure and

are characterized by precision in the use of terminology, scientific objectivity, methodological precision

and impartiality in the transmission of information. According to Montalt and Davies “medical language

has been regarded in the same way as any other kind of scientific language: objective, neutral and non-

rhetorical, whose only function was to transmit information, a so called “referential” function. As a

consequence, they contain no cultural or ideological references, and have an uniform and impersonal

style. Each concept is represented by one -and only- one term (univocal) and concepts are precise and

remain stable and unchanging over time”. (2006, p. 50).

2. Patient Information Leaflet-Legislative Approach

Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) represents one of the most common used text genres belonging to

medical discourse, in the sense that Ana Trosborg renders to the concept of genre. In the opinion of the

Danish linguist “Genres are text categories readily distinguished by mature speakers of a language, and

1 PhD in progress, Doctoral School of Philological Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania, Address: 11

Carol I Bvd., 700506, Iasi , Romania, Corresponding aut hor: anamariamangher@yahoo.com.