2. How to Develop a Translation Brief 

The four steps of creating translation briefs for health care texts are described below. These steps provide an organized means of thinking through each translation project, which should lead to clear specifications for the translator, or in some cases, a complete rethinking of the project. Over time, questions that are relevant to different text types will become clear and some early decisions can become adopted practices that will not need to be examined with each new project. A photocopy-ready form that describes the steps leading to a translation brief is provided at the end.

    Step 1:  Gather information about the function, overall purpose and end use of the source text. Learn about the source text and how it is used by the source audience.

Step 2:  Evaluate the quality of the source text to make a GO / NO-GO decision. Again, poor quality source texts prevent the production of useful translations.

    Step 3:  Compare and contrast the relevant aspects of the source and target audiences to identify implications for the target text. Analyze the content of the source text to identify any instances of source culture bias that will need to be replaced by target culture conventions, as well as translation challenges that will need to be overcome, including production challenges.

    Step 4:  Summarize for the translator specific needs and special requirements. Work with the translator to classify and prioritize any tradeoffs that need to be made and arrive at an agreement about substituting target language conventions where needed to produce a translation that reads like a native writer produced it.

Using the template provided at least once is highly recommended. Considering the language and cultural issues embedded in a text upfront may save time and money during the production and review phase and will likely improve the overall translation’s quality. Developing a compendium, over time, of typical source culture bias common to your source texts will make preparing translation briefs easier. It should also be noted that adapting the translation brief to fit different needs is possible and in fact encouraged. (NOTE: A modifiable form is available at www.hablamosjuntos.org.) 

Note that other tools in this series have been created to illustrate how these general steps in creating a translation brief can be applied to specific text types, like consent forms (Tool #4).

Step 1: Gather Information About the Source Text Function and Overall Purpose 

Requesters should begin with the assumption that a translator knows the two relevant languages well but that they may not know the role a particular text plays in the health care experience of the target audience. The translation brief helps translators avoid faulty assumptions from the start by clarifying the purpose and use of the source text as well as the target audience. For the requester, it is a tool that frames the degree to which a translation can depart from the source text to create a translation that target language readers can use and understand. It also gives requesters an opportunity to clarify what content is negotiable and to assess the quality of the source text, an important step that should be taken before making the decision to proceed with any translation project.

When a translation request is first received, the source text should be evaluated on a global level to determine its purpose, how it will be used and the context in which the source audience will encounter the text. In Step 1, the aim is to ask basic questions to clarify the reason a source text was written. The most concrete illustration of this process is below, in a three-column table that can be used to capture the essential elements of a source text.

The communicative purpose and function of a text is determined by how a text is used, the context in which it is used and the desired outcome or reader response (Nord, 2001). The way a text is organized may also offer insights to its purpose and use. Using the table above jumpstarts the specifications development process for a translation and orients the translators to the assignment. 

Asking basic questions about a source text helps develop a clearer picture about the way a text achieves its communicative purpose. Examine the source text to identify assumptions made about the reader (e.g., reading skill, assumed knowledge). Where and when a text is used and how the recipient encounters the text provides information about how a reader may understand it (Nord, 2001). Consider the context in which the text is used– how the text is introduced to the reader (where, when and by whom) – for insight about intended meaning that a reader may gather from the context.

Later, in Step 3, these basic questions are considered with the target audience in mind. The side-by-side table enables requesters to compare and contrast the source text with the idealized target text to understand the implications of translating the source text for target language audiences. The idea of this table is to draw attention to important details that requesters and translators can use to improve their understanding of an existing text and what a desired text needs to accomplish.