TRANSLATING DEFINITIONS IN MEDICAL TEXTS FOR PATIENTS

Abstract

Medical texts for lay people contain many definitions, inserted in the text at key points where new concepts are introduced. Definitions are a sort of information bubble. The classic or canonical definition, introduced with a hyperonym of the defined term, poses few problems in translation; however, there are other definitions, as well as quasi-definitions and pseudo-definitions, that are more problematic when translating into Spanish, because they either expose the logical flaws of the original or because Spanish cannot imitate the resources with which they are formulated in the English original. In this paper, I review common types of definitions found in medical texts for patients, using clinical research informed consent forms as the source of example, and I propose a number of translation strategies. Specifically, I suggest reformulating quasi- and pseudo-definitions adopting the structure of canonical definitions, so that they are easily recognized by readers. This proposal is based on an understanding of the definition as an independent linguistic structure, almost as a micro-genre. In short, I claim that the definition should be viewed as a translation unit.