GeneralMachine Translation vs Certified Medical Translators — Study Shows the Humans Win

If you’ve ever used Google Translate, the ABC company’s pioneering automated translation tool, you know it can be hit or miss. Sometimes, it perfectly converts your text into another language. And sometimes, it creates a confusing mixture of word soup.

This inconsistency is a problem for the healthcare community when Google Translate is used to convert discharge information for patients who don’t speak English fluently. A study shows Google Translate’s abilities fluctuate depending on the language and therefore shouldn’t be used without oversight.

So what’s the alternative? Old-fashioned humans!

Real-life certified medical translators can be trusted to handle important discharge instructions. Their professional medical translation services are backed by certified translation companies that guarantee safe and accurate work.

The Study That Reveals Google’s Problems

Researchers from the View-UCLA Medical Center and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center came together in 2021 to assess Google Translate’s success in the emergency room. In particular, they focused on emergency department discharge instructions, which contain prescription directions, advice, and guidelines for future appointments or procedures.

They used the automated translation software to translate 400 emergency department discharge instructions across seven languages.

1. Spanish
2. Chinese
3. Vietnamese
4. Tagalog
5. Korean
6. Armenian
7. Farsi

Spanish and Tagalog had the highest accuracy rates of 94% and 90%, respectfully. However, researchers found Google was only 55% accurate for Armenian. To put that another way, it was wrong nearly half the time.

Considering how important these instructions are to the health and safety of patients, the results were less than impressive.

Minor mistakes can dangerously affect strict dosages or confuse other important advice, which could lead to a serious medical emergency. Even a single error can have a life-threatening impact on a patient’s life.

While researchers acknowledge automated translation tools may improve over time, they conclude that today’s tools aren’t “ready for prime time use in the emergency department”.

Why is a Human Certified Medical Translator Better?

Human-led medical translation services are better for the healthcare industry, especially for less common languages like Armenian.

1. Expertise

Certified medical translators specialise in their native language, so they have a superior personal dictionary and understanding of the nuances in their cultural dialect and medical language. As a result, they can promise nearly 100% accuracy.

The AI, on the other hand, is only as good as the data it consumes, plus the user feedback when there’s an error.

AI is better suited for popular languages like English or Spanish, although human-led English to Spanish translation services are still more accurate than machines. But AI entirely fails languages spoken by fewer people. The AI simply isn’t learning as much from these languages due to scarcity.

2. Safety Nets

The top healthcare translation services also come with several safety nets that further guarantee accuracy. In addition to certified medical translators that have a strong grasp of the language, these agencies offer:

• Full compliance with worldwide standards, including ISO 17100:2015, ISO 9001:2008, and EN 15038:2006.
• Back translation, which converts a translated document back into the original language to verify the translation is accurate. If the International Review Board or another ethic committee requires it, back translating involves different translators translating a document and reconciling their versions into one copy

Bottom Line

One day, machine translation may improve to such a degree that they can accurately translate discharge instructions. But for now, they make too many mistakes to be safe for patients. Until then, a medical translator plays a necessary role in ensuring patients understand their doctors.

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