When I was recently asked to translate a guidebook on the economics behind the production of pharmaceutical products for Remix the Commons, I was delighted. Having spent much of my translation career working in the pharmaceuticals sector, I was looking forward to applying my skills to a new challenge.
What followed was an absolutely fascinating experience – from companies using the patents system and clinical trial “data exclusivity” in order to restrict knowledge sharing, to the lack of transparency surrounding the details of public sector contracts through the use of trade secret regulations, I learned a lot about the shortcomings of the industry’s current economic model.
After diagnosing the problems afflicting pharmaceutical product economics, the author then goes on to suggest a series of “treatments,” including an explanation of the concept of “common goods,” and an argument in favour of including pharmaceutical products within this category to ensure equitable access for all.
Should you be interested in reading the book yourself, Remix the Commons has made it free to download on their website here
I hope you find it as interesting as I did!
it was clear I would need to clarify several things before I could even begin
The translation process also threw up a range of challenges, which I would group into four broad categories:
1. Clear stylistic preferences, applied consistently
To start with, it was clear I would need to clarify several things before I could even begin: should the currencies cited in the book be changed to GBP? Should the French proprietary drug names be localised? How should French-language sources with no English equivalent be cited?
2. Term use that reflected modern practice
Alongside this, the book also touched on issues relating to intellectual property, financialisation, clinical trials and international treaties. As such, in order to ensure that English-speaking readers were fully informed of the issues outlined in the book, the terminology used in the translation needed to be accurate and up to date for every one of these fields.
3. Quotes translated from English to be cited in their original form
In addition to using a wide variety of specialist terms, the book also makes frequent use of quotes, citing several industry figures from around the world to support its positions. Given that the book covers industry practices in both French- and English-speaking countries, it was also essential to check whether any quotes I came across were an original verbatim quote, or a translation into French of a quote that was originally in English.
This needed to be done in order to avoid potentially misquoting a source, and to make it easier for the English-speaking reader to look up the quote.
4. An eye for detail to avoid mistakes
Finally, I was working with the client directly rather than through a translation agency. While this provides the client with several advantages including faster, more direct communication at a more competitive price, it did also mean that there was no second translator proofreading my work.
Working directly with the author of the book meant I could discuss these issues with her in person
It was clear that I needed to find tailored solutions to face up to these challenges. So, here's what I did:
Working directly with the author of the book meant I could discuss these stylistic questions with her in person. All it took was a quick call to decide on the following:
UK English to be used
Currencies not to be localised
French drug names used with generic (INN) names in brackets
Keep French references as-is, followed by an English translation in brackets
I used a range of online databases and websites available in multiple languages to check that my terms were accurate and up to date, including the EU termbase IATE, drugs.com for generic names, EDQM Standard Terms for a list of pharmaceutical dose forms and the European Patent Office’s multilingual website. The latter was particularly handy, as my background has involved more work with pharmaceuticals than with patents. For example, the specialist and highly specific language used in the footer below required a very precise translation.
The chapter in question covered the requirements for “patentability” – i.e., the conditions that need to be fulfilled to file a patent – and how these have changed over time. Therefore, I checked the relevant section of the European Patent Office – first in French, to make sure it was using the same terms as those in the book, then in English, to see how the terms should be translated.
This made it much easier to translate the footer with accurate terms that reflected current industry practices.
When it came to checking the original language of the quotes cited in the book, however, multilingual websites and databases simply didn’t cut the mustard, and I had to search the monolingual websites of the sources cited.
This was made easier thanks to Google’s Advanced Search feature. For example, to check whether a quote cited from Knowledge Ecology International was originally in English, I just needed to search site:www.keionline.org, followed by a literal English translation of the quote. Voilà, there it was!
As for the last challenge, while I always proofread my work before delivery, as I knew there would be no second translator revising my work afterwards, I made sure to complete my translation far ahead of the deadline. This meant that I was able to look over the text with “fresh eyes” at a later date, and could spot mistakes which may otherwise have gone unnoticed.
After delivery, the author, Gaëlle Krikorian, and I went over the text together and made extra changes, including re-wording sections for clarity and adding developments since the original book was published (2022).
So, that was my experience translating this fascinating book. However, what did the author herself think of the process?
“I really appreciated working with Jamie Lees to translate my book, both due to the quality of his translation and of the discussions we had. When we worked together, he proved himself to be diligent, considerate, responsive and efficient. Our working meetings were both enjoyable and productive, which is not always the case when editing one's own work.”
Gaëlle Krikorian,
Author of “From Big Pharma to the Commons”
So there we have it. Remix the Commons can now reach a much wider audience with its message of making the pharmaceuticals production system more transparent and making pharmaceutical products accessible to all.
Last but certainly not least, I’d like to thank the author, Gaëlle Krikorian, for always being on hand throughout the translation process to answer any of my queries!
Jamie Lees MA MCIL
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