1 Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
2 Department of Family & Community Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN, USA.
Clin Trials. 2018 Dec;15(6):557-566. doi: 10.1177/1740774518801591. Epub 2018 Oct 8.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: An increasing body of research is being conducted with non-English-speaking subjects. Study-related materials, including those essential for obtaining informed consent, must often be translated from English into other languages. In this study, we sought to examine the types of issues that may arise when consent materials are translated from English to Spanish.
Drawing on expertise from five individuals associated with our research team, four of whom are native Spanish speakers of different dialects of Spanish, we crafted translations of our own consent materials for biobanking using a rigorous, multi-step process involving both forward and back translation. We then systematically compared our translations to those produced by four professional translation firms to identify potential concerns in our own and the professional translations.
We identified three primary types of problems of relevance for researchers conducting studies where translation of written information is required. These included nonequivalent registers (in particular, the introduction of more complicated language), errors of omission (reducing the clarity of the information), and changes that altered the substantive meaning of the information.
Our findings highlight the importance of working with translators who not only possess "textbook" knowledge of both languages but also an appreciation of the sociocultural factors that affect how people interpret and understand meaning. Moreover, translators who have a basic understanding of research are more likely to accurately convey essential research concepts. We describe a series of steps researchers can take that may help to improve the quality of translated materials.
背景/目的：越来越多的研究针对非英语母语的受试者进行。研究相关材料，包括获得知情同意所需的材料，通常必须从英文翻译成其他语言。在这项研究中，我们试图研究在将同意书从英文翻译成西班牙文时可能出现的问题类型。
利用来自我们研究团队的五名专业人员的专业知识，其中四名是西班牙语母语者，具有不同西班牙语方言的能力，我们采用严格的、多步骤的过程，包括正向和反向翻译，自行翻译生物库的同意书。然后，我们系统地将我们的翻译与四家专业翻译公司的翻译进行比较，以确定我们自己和专业翻译中的潜在问题。
我们确定了对于需要翻译书面信息的研究的研究人员而言，有三种主要类型的相关问题。这些问题包括等效程度不一致（特别是，语言更复杂）、遗漏错误（降低信息的清晰度）和改变了信息实质含义的改变。
我们的研究结果强调了与不仅具有两种语言的“教科书”知识，而且还理解影响人们如何解释和理解含义的社会文化因素的翻译人员合作的重要性。此外，对研究有基本了解的翻译人员更有可能准确传达重要的研究概念。我们描述了研究人员可以采取的一系列步骤，这些步骤可能有助于提高翻译材料的质量。
