Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: The Russian translation project, started in 2014, is managed by Cochrane Russia with a team of 65+ volunteers from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Armenia, USA, UK, Germany. In April 2016 we reached 730 Russian translations of Cochrane Plain Language Summaries (PLS). In 2016 we started dissemination of Cochrane Comms weekly digests in Russian to the team and potential Cochrane contributors.
Objectives: To assess attitudes, commitment, success enablers and barriers to regular quality translation process through translators' feedback in order to tailor project management to volunteers’ needs and maximize success of translation and dissemination.
Methods: We conducted an online survey in April 2016. It consisted of 12 questions on the preferred number of PLS for translation per day/week/month, motivation, enablers, barriers, language preference for digests, its impact, and suggestions for improvement.
Results: By 19 April 44 people answered, most representing health professions (n = 30; 68%) or students (n = 7; 16%), most being 25 to 45 years old (n = 25; 57%). The preferred translation regime was 1-2 PLS a week (n = 16; 36%) or 1-2 PLS a month (n = 16; 36%) with three people willing to translate 1 PLS a day. The motivation and enablers were (descending order): need to gain new knowledge (n = 32; 73%), desire to make Cochrane evidence available to Russian-speaking audience (n = 27; 61%), will to do Cochrane work (n = 21; 48%), desire to improve language skills (n = 21; 48%). Most respondents indicated interest in new information (n = 32; 73%) and in translation work (n = 16; 36%) as enablers. The barriers were: lack of time (n = 31; 71%), poor language skills (n = 18; 41%), lack of funding (n = 7; 16%). Two respondents had difficulties with Smartling use. The respondents always (n = 16; 36%) or sometimes (n = 24; 55%) read digests of Cochrane Comms, find them useful (n = 28; 64%), prefer to receive information in Russian and English (n = 28; 64%) or only in Russian (n = 13; 30%).
Conclusions: We received valuable feedback from active translators, which will help to tailor translation management. We plan to reassess the approaches.
Objectives: To assess attitudes, commitment, success enablers and barriers to regular quality translation process through translators' feedback in order to tailor project management to volunteers’ needs and maximize success of translation and dissemination.
Methods: We conducted an online survey in April 2016. It consisted of 12 questions on the preferred number of PLS for translation per day/week/month, motivation, enablers, barriers, language preference for digests, its impact, and suggestions for improvement.
Results: By 19 April 44 people answered, most representing health professions (n = 30; 68%) or students (n = 7; 16%), most being 25 to 45 years old (n = 25; 57%). The preferred translation regime was 1-2 PLS a week (n = 16; 36%) or 1-2 PLS a month (n = 16; 36%) with three people willing to translate 1 PLS a day. The motivation and enablers were (descending order): need to gain new knowledge (n = 32; 73%), desire to make Cochrane evidence available to Russian-speaking audience (n = 27; 61%), will to do Cochrane work (n = 21; 48%), desire to improve language skills (n = 21; 48%). Most respondents indicated interest in new information (n = 32; 73%) and in translation work (n = 16; 36%) as enablers. The barriers were: lack of time (n = 31; 71%), poor language skills (n = 18; 41%), lack of funding (n = 7; 16%). Two respondents had difficulties with Smartling use. The respondents always (n = 16; 36%) or sometimes (n = 24; 55%) read digests of Cochrane Comms, find them useful (n = 28; 64%), prefer to receive information in Russian and English (n = 28; 64%) or only in Russian (n = 13; 30%).
Conclusions: We received valuable feedback from active translators, which will help to tailor translation management. We plan to reassess the approaches.