Sunday, December 4, 2011

Medical translation pitfalls

A few pitfalls in translating Nepali medical terms I've come across in my work as an interpreter. A language like Nepalese, which is the common lingu franca of a hilly region with about a hundred differentt languages -- not just dialects, mind you, 100+ distinct languages! -- well, it'll naturally pick up different linguistic influences in different regions.

  1. First of all, the word for medicine, as listed in various Nepali dictionaries, is aushadhi. But I soon learned another word in common use, dubai. I was only able to find this listed in one of the many dictionaries I use, the old Warren dictionary from 1991. I've found a couple of other words for medicine as well, okhati and ilaj, but I've never come across anybody knowing or using these words!
  2. Another pitfall is the translation of the word infection. It's used in two different ways in English: (1) When one person transmits a disease to another person, it's said that he gets infected. (2) When parasites go into a wound, the wound is said to be infected. In case (1) the Nepali translation is saruwa, in case (2) it's listed in dictionaries as suj(-ån) or jålån... But nobody understands these words. Rather, sankarmod seems to be the better word, but it baffles me 'cause I haven't found this word listed in any dictionary.
  3. The word allergy, to my knowledge there's no proper Nepalese translation. In stead, I'm explaining that allergy is when the body reacts negatively to having eaten/taken/come in contact with food, medicin etc...
Just goes to show how ambiguous translating can be, I think especially a language like Nepali.

5 comments:

  1. please provide nepali glossary for medical term. I am too working as nepali interpreter and want to learn more to perform my job more effectively.

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  2. Hi Madhav,
    good to connect with you!
    I have replied to you in another blog post with a little nepali medical glossary.
    Please give your comment, share any experience. Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Morten,
      I own a Nepali Lyrics Website and was writing a song by Swaroop Raj Acharya. Although Nepali being my mother tongue I couldn't understand the word Okhati which was used in that song. I searched the net to get the meaning of that song and Voila! I came across your blog. Thank you so much. Here's the link to that song in case you would want to check out the word Okhati where it is used in that song http://www.nepalilyrix.com/2013/02/nabujheko-haina-lyrics.html
      Thank you once again.
      Regards
      www.nepalilyrix.com

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  4. Hi Nepali Lyrix,

    my pleasure :)

    -funny thing, I'm able to teach Nepali words to Nepali native speakers!! It sometimes happens, although it's mostly the other way around, of course.

    cheers

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