I am always thinking on new ways to explain what we do, and when I say we, this time I am referring only to translators, certified or otherwise validated, graduated, licensed, etc. In general, I think aiming for the common experience, the one thing that could be understood is a good, mindful decision:
How challenging may be to write instructions, consent forms, marketing materials, signs in (“neutral”) English that needs to be understood by people of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, and different levels of education and health literacy from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Belize, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey (Channel Island English), Guyana, Ireland (Hiberno-English), Isle of Man (Manx English), Jamaica (Jamaican English), Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand (New Zealand English), Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the United States (the 50 states)?
That is what most of us feel when we translate documents from English to Spanish for hospitals in the United States. Talking about vicarious trauma!!!
Happy Wednesday!
Edurne
