RWS Linguist spotlight
1. How long have you been a translator?
30 years.
2. What made you want to pursue languages as a career?
I was interested in medical field and thought that medical translator career would suit for my interests and strength.
3. What was your path into translation and/or freelancing?
I studied life science in college and worked for chemical company as a researcher. But I wanted to pursue an independent professional career and selected a medical translator as my second career.
4. What was your path into Linguistic Validation?
I was interested in clinical trials. When our LV team gave me opportunity, I took training and started working on LV projects.
5. What do you like about being a Linguistic Validation linguist?
I can feel that I am contributing to clinical trials and helping people with medical issues.
6. How long have you been working on Linguistic Validation projects?
I don’t remember exactly but for 5 or 6 years.
7. What life sciences sector is your area of expertise?
I studied chemistry, biology, microbiology, etc. in college so feel comfortable in those areas.
8. What training or qualifications did you achieve to support being a Linguistic Validation linguist?
I took all the eLearning courses RWS offers about LV and on the job training. When I am not sure about terms or processes, I search and learn.
9. What do you find the most interesting about working on Linguistic Validation projects?
There are several audiences like patients, different roles of medical professionals, general people. People with different roles have different definitions of terminology. I always pay attention to which level of style or terminology I should use to fit with our audiences.
10. What do you find the most challenging about working on Linguistic Validation projects?
Questionnaires are most challenging. Patients and doctors have different backgrounds and knowledge. It is extremely difficult to create a questionnaire that everyone can understand in the same way. Even between two harmonized linguists, it is sometimes hard to agree with each other.
11. What changes in the industry are you observing?
We have switched from the age of paper to the age of tablets and smartphones. I think that in the future, we will utilize AI more to automate what can be automated and become a little more streamlined.