Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: The exponential increase in health information constitutes a universal challenge, more so for non-English speakers as new scientific knowledge is almost exclusively published in English. As part of its Strategy to 2020, Cochrane is working to “make Cochrane evidence accessible and useful to everybody, everywhere in the world”. A key focus has been to translate Cochrane abstracts and plain language summaries (PLS) into different languages, which poses various challenges as a resource-intensive task requiring both linguistic and context expertise.
Objectives:
- To provide German translations of the physiotherapy-related PLS of 10 Cochrane Reviews by the Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma Group (BJMTG).
- To examine and document the translation process and provide feedback to BJMTG on aspects related to the translation and content of the PLSs.
Methods: We are building on our ongoing initiative to provide German translations of PLS of physiotherapy-related Cochrane Reviews on Cochrane websites (www.cochranelibrary.com and www.cochrane.org/de) and in the German physiotherapy journal Zeitschrift für Physiotherapeuten. A team of German physiotherapists, all experienced in translating PLS, with input from a native English advisor, translate the PLS of the selected BJMTG Reviews. Translation follows a standardised process involving at least two translators per PLS and the use of the translation software Smartling®. Feedback is documented on a pre-developed form and includes aspects such as difficulties experienced when translating the PLS into German plain language and the completeness of the PLS. The translation work is funded by BJMTG.
Preliminary results and prospects: The project is ongoing; it started in February 2015. We will report our findings at the Colloquium. So far (March 2015), two translations have been completed. A third one is underway.
We hope that insights gained from our project will stimulate and facilitate the involvement of professional groups in other Cochrane translation projects, particularly for languages outside larger-scale Cochrane translation projects.
Objectives:
- To provide German translations of the physiotherapy-related PLS of 10 Cochrane Reviews by the Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma Group (BJMTG).
- To examine and document the translation process and provide feedback to BJMTG on aspects related to the translation and content of the PLSs.
Methods: We are building on our ongoing initiative to provide German translations of PLS of physiotherapy-related Cochrane Reviews on Cochrane websites (www.cochranelibrary.com and www.cochrane.org/de) and in the German physiotherapy journal Zeitschrift für Physiotherapeuten. A team of German physiotherapists, all experienced in translating PLS, with input from a native English advisor, translate the PLS of the selected BJMTG Reviews. Translation follows a standardised process involving at least two translators per PLS and the use of the translation software Smartling®. Feedback is documented on a pre-developed form and includes aspects such as difficulties experienced when translating the PLS into German plain language and the completeness of the PLS. The translation work is funded by BJMTG.
Preliminary results and prospects: The project is ongoing; it started in February 2015. We will report our findings at the Colloquium. So far (March 2015), two translations have been completed. A third one is underway.
We hope that insights gained from our project will stimulate and facilitate the involvement of professional groups in other Cochrane translation projects, particularly for languages outside larger-scale Cochrane translation projects.