In the 1800s, observatories with larger and larger telescopes were built around the world. In 1877, Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835-1910), director of the Brera Observatory in Milan, began mapping and naming areas on Mars. He named the Martian “seas” and “continents” (dark and light areas) with names from historic and mythological sources. He saw channels…
Editor’s Note: The November-December issue of Health Affairs contains essays by a physician and a medical interpreter on the challenges and perils of navigating language gaps between medical providers and patients in the absence of a trained medical interpreter. The essays appear in the journal’s “Narrative Matters” section, which is supported by the W.K. Kellogg…
Art historians love to debate the horns of Moses. Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses at Saint Peter in Chains in Rome depicts Moses with two horns. Most claim that the horns of Moses go back to Saint Jerome’s “translation error” in the Latin Vulgate. I’d like to challenge that assumption. Not only did Saint Jerome…
You may not believe it but it’s a fact that medical translations or interpretation done incorrectly, has the ability to endanger lives. Poor translation, in particular, has adversely affected the lives of a number of people. There have been documented cases of faulty or incompetent medical translations that have caused severe complications, faulty diagnoses, and…
Google Translate’s latest update – turning the app into a real-time interpreter – has been heralded as bringing us closer to ‘a world where language is no longer a barrier’. Despite glitches, it offers a glimpse of a future in which there are no linguistic misunderstandings – especially ones that change the course of history.…
In 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli was planning to observe Mars with a newly powerful refractor telescope installed in Brera, Milan. He prepared extensively, avoiding, he wrote, “everything which could affect the nervous system, from narcotics to alcohol, and especially from the abuse of coffee, which I found to be exceedingly prejudicial to the…
In a world where English is everywhere, is translation still important? Is it even necessary? English is the third most widely-spoken language in terms of native speakers, of which it has at least 330 million. But if you count the people who speak it as a second language, it’s the most popular language in the…
Traduire d’une langue à une autre est une affaire délicate, et lorsqu’il s’agit de faire l’interprète entre un médecin et un patient, les enjeux sont encore plus importants. Prenons l’exemple du joueur de base-ball Willie Ramirez. En 1980, Ramirez a 18 ans lorsqu’il est transporté, dans le coma, dans un hôpital du sud de la…
1. THE SEVENTY-ONE-MILLION-DOLLAR WORD During the 1980s, Willie Ramirez, who was only 18 years old, was admitted in a Florida hospital. Spanish was the only language spoken with his family and friends and they had to coordinate with the doctors. One of the hospital staff spoke 2 languages and translated the Spanish word ‘intoxicado’ as…
Facebook has apologized for translating the name of Chinese President Xi Jinping from Burmese into English with an obscene word on its platform. This translation error was revealed on the second day of Mr. Xi’s official visit to Burma. On Saturday, Mr. Xi met with the Burmese leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in order to…