In the third year of my Translation and Interpreting degree, we were, at the time, heading to a decision as to what subjects we would be choosing to specialise in and what appealed to us the most. The degree I did covered pretty much all the specialisations in terms of different courses, be it finance, literature, legal, medical, etc. You name it. While I was already in the business at the time, having had a previous degree in English up my sleeve, I was all over the place with specialisations. Then we started a compulsory course named “Translation of Medical Texts”. I recall I enjoyed it the most, partly because I liked the lecturer, and partly because I was already able to see myself working in this field, so the decision came to me naturally.

Throughout the course, we dealt with quite a few sub-branches of Medicine and attempted translating numerous texts as a practice. I also remember that the rest of my course mates never really got on well with the idea of medical translation. One found it rightfully disgusting to deal with all those gory graphics of, say, a tumour growing out of a man’s neck, or photos from different stages of iridectomy. Another started to verge on hypochondria; diagnosing herself with every disease mentioned in the texts we were translating in the class. And another was way too squeamish and probably suffered from haemophobia.

We were obviously not medical students; however, we were going through what a first-year med student was experiencing. Up to that point in my life, I had to deal with doctors and hospitals both for myself and for the people I loved and cared about. Having had two major open pyeloplasty surgeries for bilateral ureteropelvic junction obstruction at the age of sixteen already made me desensitised towards blood, IVs, internal organs, etc. even though it was only to a certain minimal extent. I already had a substantial interest in the field. So, I did not have to go through sensitivity issues as strong as my colleagues-to-be had.

No matter how specialised a translator is in their career and try to cater for only that field, we have to admit we get the odd text in other specialties, medical being one. Or you, the translator, have already started working in this specialty and every text becomes a pain to translate due to (a) nauseating graphics in the text, (b) you think you may have the same health issue noted in the text, or (c) you just can’t help feeling for the person or the group mentioned in the text that suffer from a certain disease or congenital deficiency such as Down Syndrome. All these make it difficult to focus on your job and the project becomes a pain to suffer from, leading to mistranslations even. So, how would you detach yourself from the emotions haunting you throughout the project and concentrate on what really matters?

I can only give a few practical tips leading to “desensitisation,” or emotional detachment from the text that needs translating. I am sure you will find them beneficial and even develop your own ways to dissociate yourself from the text. These tips are also practiced by medical students and have so far proven to work for the most faint-hearted. Let us have a look, shall we?!

Youtube

Yes, Youtube! While it is great for binge-watching cat or dog videos, or catching up with the snippets from last night’s chat show, it is also great for med students. Youtube provides great resources for doctors-to-be with a plethora of videos of surgeries of any type, instructional videos as to how to establish a vascular access, clinical medicine courses, etc. Let’s assume you are assigned the translation of how intraocular tumour surgery is carried out. You are to familiarise yourself with the procedure and to start doing research. Don’t just read! Watch videos. I know it may look vomit-inducing at first. And you may even have nightmares at night. However, try to stick to it. With each video, not only will you gain a general grasp of how the procedure is conducted but you will soon find out that you are getting used to seeing incisions to the ocular system. Do this with every new project you get that concentrates on a subject you are not familiar with.

Practice makes perfect detached

You need your own catharsis! It means the purification of the soul from such feelings of pity and fear by acting or witnessing them on stage, which is mostly associated with tragedies as far back as the Aristotelian times. It can also be applied to any such emotions you find yourself having to deal with with each translation project. You need to purge your soul from such emotions as disgust that you experience every time you come across a nauseating photo depicting the surgery on human anatomy. You can reach your catharsis by constantly practicing in the form of translating medical texts of various subjects.

Going through emotions can be another overwhelming issue. Let us assume you are assigned the translation of a medical certification of the cause of death. The deceased in question was a baby passed on due to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Now, we all love babies. We probably know couples that have new-borns. Perhaps we have even recently become a parent! The idea of losing a baby due to such a horrible condition would obviously touch a string or two in our hearts. If you are a fledgling translator, you will find your eyes might get wet. It is not the ninjas cutting onions. Don’t fool yourself. You are probably thinking of your infant in their cot while you are working in front of your laptop. And you say to yourself, what if this happens to me? Or you remember that close relative that went through just that. Emotions may become unbearable. We are only human. But constantly exposing yourself to such an emotion in the form of texts produced in the same subject matter will soon start to calluse your heart. Practice your translation skills in the same subjects whenever you have time to spare. Trust me, I am a medical translator!

Repeat after me!

The whole sensitivity issue in the face of a translation assignment stems from one thing, and one thing only. That is, empathy. We are born with it. Some of us experience it stronger than others. We put ourselves in another’s shoes and ask ourselves how it would feel if it happened to us. This is again human reaction and it manifests itself even when reading the news. We feel horrible when exposed to a piece of news on a natural disaster or when we read about a deadly car crash. Through the course of your desensitisation, you have to repeatedly remind yourself of certain sentences. I will note the ones that worked for me below.

• This is not happening to me. (And the possibility of it happening to you may as well be close to nil.)
• I don’t know the person in question. (It sounds horrible, I know, but we tend to empathise more with the people we know.)
• What I suffered from was different than this patient. (If it did happen to you, just remind yourself that everyone experiences pain differently.)
• This is just work. (And you are doing it because you like it and earn money from it. Nothing more!)

Consequently, it all comes down to getting yourself used to the stimulus in your translation assignments. Medical students desensitise quicker than a medical translator considering the fact that they are exposed to anatomy, blood, and surgical procedures in person on a daily basis throughout their education. The above tips are by no means an academic approach but ones that I find helpful and apply in my career. They have worked for me so far. Am I completely desensitised? No. Am I now just flesh and bone devoid of human emotions? Definitely not. Well, I hope at least. However, thanks to the above tips, I manage to create a switch in my mind whenever I am assigned a piece of text that has photos of human anatomy, or medical experiences of an individual.  That switch needs to be turned on. Otherwise, the work we do as medical translators will not be enjoyable, when it should.

Are you a medical translator? Do you find it hard to deal with certain emotions led by the text before your eyes? Let me know in the comments below.