Normally, once a technical medical translation is delivered to a client it is sent to their overseas contacts for a review. This is always considered best practice so long as time allows. Crucially, these reviewers must be native speakers of the target language as well as knowledgeable of the product and its target readership. There is generally no debate about this process especially with the major players in the industry. But opinion on the best way to receive and make such edits and reviews is often divided.
Nowadays, very few reviewers still only accept hard copy but as far as electronic versions go there are a number of options. Using the track changes feature in MSWord, annotating a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat’s comments function, are all possible and even creating a separate amendments document in MSWord/Excel. However, these all have their drawbacks.
Whilst Adobe Acrobat Reader is used universally these days to read PDF files the full version of Adobe Acrobat which has these extra commenting features is far less used. Most reviewers have MSOffice so it would seem logical to use this software suite. However, few reviewers are skilled in the use of ‘track changes’. Both PDF and Word options also have the disadvantage where the final output version is a desktop publishing software such as In-Design or Quark. How can one migrate to this type of software without losing all formatting and then having to spend considerable time pasting text from the review document to the final design output file?
Omnilingua solves this by having at its disposal the full range of special CAT (computer-assisted translation) software. It can convert source desktop publishing files to translatable files for its translators who can then work on the files without losing any of the original formatting information. These files can then be saved off not only in their final output format but also in an interim review format such as a bilingual table in MSWord.
By following a simple set of instructions the reviewers can then work on these files directly and deliver amended files which can then be exported as final files with all formatting intact. This can save a considerable amount of time and helps minimise errors.
Finally, going back to the reviewers themselves, a word of warning. It is important to try to use the same reviewer for all review work who is ideally working to an agreed terminology list or glossary. Even with technical texts there is an element of subjectivity and debate over choice of words so for consistency it is best to use the same person as the final arbiter so some sort of consensus can be reached. Omnilingua is happy to deal direct with client-appointed reviewers for approval of their translations at no extra charge.