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Collaboration and communities of practice in the field of medical ontology translation

par Wermuth, Maria Cornelia;Walravens, Michel M.J.;Lambot, Marie-Alexandra
Référence The journal of specialised translation, 37, page (75-98)
Publication Publié, 2022-01-01

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

This article provides insight into the collaborative translation of medical ontologies and how translators’ needs, commitment and desire to learn and share knowledge can be the seeds of a community of practice to support this type of translation. It is based on the experience of a project to translate 7,500 respiratory system concepts from SNOMED CT® into French. The project was guided by the following principles: (1) translators are bilingual medical experts in the field in which the terms to be translated are used; (2) linguistic advice is available during translation; (3) translating experts accept, correct or replace terms already translated by a web-based translation tool using a prepared lexicon. The project results were characterised by low acceptance of computer-assisted pre-translations due to inadequate lexicon preparation and insufficient alignment of the concepts to be translated with the expertise of the translating expert. These issues were solved to a considerable extent by web-based communication between translators, suggesting the need for well-structured collaboration between highly specialised field experts. Based on this observation, we discuss how a community of practice built on the motivation and needs of the translating experts could significantly support the quality and efficiency of medical ontology translation.